ARK Investment Management
- Cathie Wood's ARK ETFs added 305,476 shares of Teladoc on Wednesday.
- The shares were worth roughly $58 million as of market close on March 17.
- Teladoc is underfire from Amazon after the e-commerce giant launched a new telehealth business.
- Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.
Three of Cathie Wood's ARK Invest ETFs loaded up on 305,457 shares of Teladoc on Wednesday following a sharp fall in the share price.
Specifically, the ARK Innovation ETF added 174,957 shares, while ARK Genomic Revolution ETF and the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF added 78,371 and 52,148 shares, respectively.
Teladoc is now the largest holding in the ARK Genomic Revolution ETF and is tied for the third-largest holding in the ARK Innovation ETF with Roku.
As of market close on March 17, the combined shares bought by Wood's ETFs were worth approximately $58 million.
Teladoc has been under pressure of late after Amazon announced it's launching a rival telehealth business called Amazon Care. The service had previously only been available to Amazon employees in the state of Washington.
Now, as Insider reported back in December, Amazon Care is undertaking a national expansion with the goal of serving workers at other major companies in all 50 states.
Teladoc stock fell nearly 8% in a gap down move before Wednesday's opening after the Amazon Care expansion was confirmed, perhaps signaling to Wood and co. that time was right for a buy.
Shares of the multinational telemedicine and virtual healthcare company have fallen over 36% from mid-February highs. While some investors fear Teladoc may have more downside ahead of it, many experts argue Amazon won't be able to take over from the Harrison, New York-based firm so easily.
David Larsen, CFA, a managing director at BTIG, told Bloomberg, "the threat is overstated because Teladoc and American Well have contracts with many of the large health plans. Amazon has been very successful in taking market share from your traditional retail storefronts in many areas. But health care is different."
Teladoc traded down 3% as of 3:49 p.m. ET on Thursday.
