ARK

While most investors spent Sunday digesting news from the Middle East and the latest swings in Bitcoin, Cathie Wood and her team at ARK Invest were hard at work. The firm released its daily trading report, and it immediately caught Wall Street’s attention.

The headline-grabbing move: ARK purchased 3,291,184 shares of SpaceX worth approximately $444.3 million. Nearly half a billion dollars invested in a single company—a company that had only recently become publicly available through an IPO after being inaccessible to most investors for years.

At the same time, ARK sold 80,536 shares of AMD worth $39.3 million. Nearly $40 million was raised by trimming a position in a chipmaker that had long been one of ARK’s favorite holdings.

What does this mean? A strategic shift. Cathie Wood, famous for her bets on disruptive innovators such as Tesla, Zoom, and Roku, appears to be making a new major wager: space. More specifically, SpaceX. And, once again, Elon Musk.

Let’s take a closer look at what may be behind these trades.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.—better known as SpaceX—is Elon Musk’s aerospace company responsible for launching rockets, delivering cargo to the International Space Station, building the Starlink satellite internet network, and pursuing the long-term goal of sending humans to Mars.

Until recently, SpaceX was a private company. Its shares were available primarily to venture capital firms, institutional investors, and employees through specialized programs. Retail investors had little or no access.

Last week, however, SpaceX reportedly completed an initial public offering (IPO), listing under the ticker SPCX with a valuation of roughly $250 billion. That valuation would make it one of the most valuable publicly traded companies in the...