Cathie Wood says Ark Invest avoided Arm's blockbuster IPO because valuation was on 'high side'

• Arm was the biggest IPO in the US since late 2021 when it made its market debut last week.
• But Ark Invest's Cathie Wood sat out the chip designer's float.
• "Arm came out, we think, from a valuation point of view on the high side," she told CNBC.

Cathie Wood sat on the sidelines while chip designer Arm made its blockbuster stock market debut last week.

The Ark Invest CEO chose not to participate in Arm's $55 billion float because she thought it was overvalued compared to its competitors.

"As far as Arm, I think there might be a little bit too much emphasis on AI when it comes to Arm and maybe not enough focus on the competitive dynamics out there," she told CNBC's Squawk Box Europe on Wednesday.

"So we did not participate in that IPO, and we also compare it to the stocks in our portfolios. Arm came out, we think, from a valuation point of view on the high side, and we see within our portfolios much lower-priced names with much more exposure to AI."

Arm's IPO was the biggest stock market debut since 2021 after a prolonged slump in listings over the past 18 months.

Shares in the chipmaker soared 25% on its first day of trading leaving it worth about $65 billion, but has since lost ground each day since then and closed Thursday valued at $53.5 billion.

Arm's technology is used in more than 90% of smartphones. The company said in its prospectus that about 70% of the world's population used Arm-based products.

Wood's announcement comes after Ark Invest offloaded Tesla shares worth $8.4 million this week.