A lot of money managers may have taken Wednesday off ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, but Cathie Wood doesn't squander a single trading day. The co-founder, CEO, and stock picker for Ark Invest was busy making portfolio moves across her firm's family of aggressive growth exchange-traded funds.
What was Wood buying on Wednesday? She added to existing positions in Advanced Micro Devices(NASDAQ: AMD), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Pinterest (NYSE: PINS). Let's take a closer look at some of the purchases that Wood is hoping will pay off on Thanksgiving Eve.
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1. Advanced Micro Devices
The country's most valuable company by market cap is a chip stock that everyone loves as a leading artificial intelligence (AI) play, but unfortunately that isn't Advanced Micro Devices. In a strong year for most tech stocks, AMD stock is trading 8% lower in 2024.
AMD is a chip company that's trying to make its mark in a market hungry for AI processors. Its data center business is booming, but the rest of its operations are stuck in reverse. Despite its sluggish stock, it's not exactly cheap. It trades for 27 times forward earnings. However, it just posted its strongest revenue growth in two years. Is this market laggard about to become a leader?
Image source: Getty Images.
After four quarters of failing to top 10% year-over-year top-line growth, AMD saw its revenue climb 18% to $6.8 billion in the third quarter. Its data center segment saw its revenue surge 122%, and at $3.5 billion for the quarter, it now accounts for more than half of its business. The AI revolution is cooking for AMD right there. Unfortunately, this naturally means that the balance of its business is struggling. Its gaming and embedded segments saw its revenue plunge 69% and 25%, respectively. Its client segment did manage to grow at a 29% clip, but the bullish argument for AMD rests on its fast-growing data center business. Profitability more than doubled. It's the third quarter in a row that AMD has narrowly bested analyst profit targets.
Revenue should continue to accelerate. Guidance for the current quarter calls for $7.5 billion in revenue at the midpoint, a 22% increase. It will be the third report in a row where top-line gains are picking up the pace. Wall Street pros see revenue rising 27% for all of 2025. AMD has been a disappointment for investors this year after more than doubling in 2023. The ingredients could be falling into place for the shares to ride higher in 2025.
2. Amazon
Like Wood, Amazon isn't taking this holiday week lightly. Black Friday kicks off the potent holiday shopping season, and Amazon is going to be busy. Growth has slowed for the country's leading online retailer. Revenue growth hasn't topped 15% in the last dozen quarters. Investors are bracing for another year of sales growth in the pre-teens come 2025. Competition is intensifying as brick-and-mortar chains get better about serving consumers at home and Chinese upstarts woo deal seekers with eye-rubbing prices.
Amazon is firing back. It recently launched Haul in beta version, a deeply discounted hub where most of its offerings are going for $10 or less. It also isn't sitting still. So far this week, its Amazon Web Services arm was awarded a large military contract. On the e-commerce end, it just landed a major footwear retailer to embrace the "Buy with Prime" option that lets Amazon handle the transaction processing as a third-party partner.
3. Pinterest
Growth may be picking up for AMD, but it's getting brake-checked at Pinterest. The visual discovery engine has seen its revenue growth go from 23% in the first quarter to 21% in the second quarter. Earlier this month, it clocked in with a third-quarter revenue advance of 18%. Making matters worse, its guidance for the current period calls for a 15% to 17% increase on the top line for the fourth quarter.
Pinterest's popularity continues to grow as a differentiated social media platform. It's attracting 537 million monthly active users worldwide, an 11% increase over the past year. Average revenue per user keeps inching higher. The bottom line is growing even faster. Adjusted earnings per share soared 43%, well ahead of expectations. Despite the decelerating top-line growth, Pinterest has posted double-digit percentage beats consistently over the past year.
Shares of Pinterest head into Black Friday with the stock trading 18% lower in 2024. Like AMD, Wood is buying a quality name that is cheaper now than it was when the year began. Everyone's shopping for deals this time of year. Wood likely thinks she found some on Wednesday.
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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Rick Munarriz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, and Pinterest. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
