On the ultimate buying and selling day of 2025, Cathie Wooden put an eye-brow elevating $1.33 million to work in Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA), scooping up 145,153 shares within the gene-editing play.
For essentially the most half, it has been a forgettable 12 months for Intellia inventory, closing out one other 12 months within the damaging. The inventory has tanked 22% year-to-date, whereas the S&P 500 capped off one other very good 12 months within the inexperienced, delivering a 17.2% acquire.
However, the sizable guess on a stumbling biotech inventory sends a transparent sign on the place Wooden sees the following long-term breakout.
I’ve lined a ton of Cathie Wooden trades through the years, and he or she’s clearly an anomaly within the investing world.
Not each one among her bets lands on the button, however she persistently leans into concepts lengthy earlier than they really feel mainstream.
Genomics, particularly gene enhancing, is arguably one of many greatest investing themes for ARK Make investments, an space she has usually described as misunderstood and mispriced.
In actual fact, Wooden feels combining AI with advances in gene sequencing and gene-editing instruments would possibly spark a medical transformation. At a latest occasion, she stated,
Wooden’s has constructed a robust fame through the years for choosing shares that ultimately turn into large wealth compounders.
Shortly after launching ARK in 2014, she guess on EV large Tesla as a prime holding properly earlier than it went parabolic through the 2020–21 surge.
It additionally leaned into fintech disruptor Block (then Sq.) as Money App scaled, and started scooping up shares in Shopify forward of its lengthy eCommerce growth.
That stated, on the coronary heart of her newest play is gene enhancing, flipping the script within the medical house.
For essentially the most half, remedies act like crutches, firming down the signs as an alternative of fixing the wiring beneath.
Gene enhancing, although, goals to appropriate the underlying mutation, doubtlessly delivering a one-time or long-term resolution for points that require lifelong care at this level.
These would come with issues like sure liver, blood, and uncommon genetic problems.
In actual fact, over time, these instruments might doubtlessly reshape most cancers remedy by engineering immune cells, considerably enhance organ transplantation outcomes, and even goal viral DNA or RNA.
From an financial standpoint, curing diseases like most cancers would considerably reduce long-term healthcare prices.
For perspective, estimates cited by the NIH/NCI peg the nationwide value of most cancers care at practically $246 billion by 2030.
Therefore, Wooden’s guess on Intellia suggests the corporate is on the heart of a gene-editing shift the market nonetheless hasn’t priced in but.
Cathie Wooden leans again into gene-editing, including to a biotech identify after a difficult 12 months.
Photograph by Bloomberg on Getty Photographs
ARK trades on December 30
On the ultimate buying and selling day of the 12 months, ARK made a number of focused strikes, pouring into choose biotech names whereas trimming publicity elsewhere.
Buys
- Intellia Therapeutics: 145,153 shares, $1.33 million
- Twist Bioscience: 50,963 shares, $1.67 million
- Beam Therapeutics: 46,376 shares, $1.29 million
- Pacific Biosciences of California: 423,426 shares, $724,000
- Kodiak AI: 10,957 shares, $111,500
Sells / Trims
- Rocket Lab: 1,545 shares bought, $108,000
- Roku: 10,767 shares bought, $1.20 million
- Shopify: 6,579 shares bought, $1.10 million
- Ionis Prescribed drugs: 12,983 shares bought, $1.03 million
Intellia is making an attempt to repair the illness on the supply
Like I laid out earlier, Intellia Therapeutics isn’t seeking to merely handle the illness; it’s making an attempt to repair what induced it.
By means of CRISPR, a sturdy gene-editing instrument (primarily a GPS-guided molecular scissor), Intellia targets particular DNA errors and corrects them.
Fund supervisor buys and sells
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The corporate’s main focus is on vivo enhancing, which implies therapies are administered instantly into the physique, which then edit genes inside crucial organs such because the liver.
What makes Intellia particular is its very good execution.
Persistently delivering gene-editing cargo in a protected method is hard to say the least, however Intellia has developed a profitable modular, manufacturable supply system and backed it with rising scientific information.
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On prime of that, it boasts a key partnership with healthcare large Regeneron that provides funding, discovery, and improvement muscle.
How Intellia stacks up towards different gene-editing gamers
- CRISPR Therapeutics: its key focus is on ex vivo therapies, the place cells are mainly edited outdoors the physique. Importantly, its CRISPR-based remedy Casgevy is already green-lit by regulators.
- Beam Therapeutics: makes a speciality of base enhancing, switching up a DNA letter as an alternative of reducing the DNA strand utterly.
- Prime Drugs: makes use of prime enhancing, which is extra exact, being a “search-and-replace” method.
- Editas Drugs: develops gene-editing therapies via instruments reminiscent of Cas12a, with packages specializing in eye ailments.
- Caribou Biosciences: works on CRISPR-edited, off-the-shelf cell therapies, specializing in most cancers remedies.
Intellia’s 2025 highlights and the dangers traders can’t ignore
From a enterprise perspective, Intellia had one other stable 12 months.
That stated, listed here are the 12 months’s highlights with breakthroughs on one facet, and execution and security dangers on the opposite.
Breakthroughs
- Lonvo-z (NTLA-2002) confirmed actual sturdiness. In pooled Section 1/2 information, 31 of 32 sufferers on the 50 mg dose (for a uncommon genetic swelling dysfunction) stopped having assaults and now not wanted preventive medication.
- Moved right into a pivotal section. Intellia wrapped up enrollment in its international Section 3 HAELO examine in September, protecting it on monitor for topline information by mid-2026.
- Extra proof in ATTR. Longer-term Section 1 information confirmed that in vivo liver enhancing might doubtlessly work
Main setbacks
- The ATTR program hit a wall.A critical liver occasion compelled Intellia to pause dosing, whereas the FDA positioned two late-stage research on scientific maintain.
- Sentiment shock. The revelation {that a} affected person later died intensified security scrutiny.
The financials behind Intellia’s lengthy runway
Intellia remains to be pre-revenue, and the gross sales are nonetheless collaboration-driven.
In Q3 2025, collaboration gross sales elevated to $13.8 million from $9.1 million the earlier 12 months, though nonetheless modest, and are transferring in the correct path.
The larger story is expense management.
R&D spending decreased considerably to $94.7 million from $123.4 million, whereas common and administrative bills remained regular at $30.5 million.
That self-discipline helped slim out its quarterly web loss to $101.3 million, down from $135.7 million a 12 months earlier.
Furthermore, money, money equivalents, and marketable securities totaled a wholesome $669.9 million at September 30, however fell from $861.7 million at year-end 2024.
Moreover, Intellia raised $114.5 million web via an at-the-market providing in Q3, saying its present assets are sufficient to fund operations into mid-2027.
However, as we glance forward, the consensus gross sales outlook factors to an inflection forward,
- 2025: Income estimated at 56.92 million
- 2026: Income estimated at 51.21 million
- 2027: Income estimated at 266.27 million
- 2028: Income estimated at 667.77 million
- 2029: Income estimated at 1.47 billion
- 2030: Income estimated at 2.35 billion
Supply: Looking for Alpha
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