- Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood said Tesla being booted out of the S&P 500 ESG is "ridiculous".
- Tesla was kicked out of the sustainably focused index even though it produces EVs and solar panels.
- Wood is a supporter of and investor in Tesla, and she has predicted its price will rise to $4,600 within five years.
Stock picker Cathie Wood has made it very clear she's unhappy about Tesla's booting from the S&P 500 ESG Index on Wednesday.
The ARK Invest CEO and Tesla bull tweeted her disdain on Thursday, saying: "Ridiculous. Not worthy of any other response."
Tesla was kicked out of the sustainably focused stock-market index this week, even though it produces electric vehicles, solar panels and battery packs. The removal came as part of S&P Global's fourth annual rebalance of the index.
Wood has been a longtime supporter of Tesla, which is Ark Invest's top position with a combined market value of about $762 million across all of its ETFs, according to data compiled by Cathie's Ark.
The keenly followed stock picker said in April she expects Tesla's stock price to rise to $4,600 by 2026 if it succeeds in developing and rolling out self-driving robo taxis. But the stock has dropped almost 30% in the past month to close at $709.81 on Wednesday, as worries about the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest-rate hikes drag on tech stocks.
Tesla stock was ineligible to be included in the large-cap ESG index because of its low S&P DJI ESG score — a measure of its ESG efforts — which had fallen to the bottom 25% of its industry peers, S&P Global said in a blog post. Many legacy automakers have stepped up their push into electric vehicles over the last year.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk lashed out at the index provider over the move. "ESG is an outrageous scam! Shame on S&P Global," he said in a tweet.
The EV maker's lack of a low-carbon strategy and codes of conduct are seen as factor in its removal from the sustainability index. The company's exposure to risks from its handling of autopilot deaths and injuries, as well as claims of racial discrimination and poor factory working conditions, also played a part.
Wood's championing of Tesla has led her to slam legacy automakers that have tried to venture into the electric-vehicle space — and she used the term "ridiculous" to do so.
When stock in Ford and General Motors surged earlier this year, after they said they would step up development and production of electric vehicles, she said: "They soared on those electric vehicle announcements, this about that, that's ridiculous."
The Ark CEO has since warmed to GM, and bought her first stake in the Tesla rival earlier in May.
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