Cathie Wood's ARK bought $44 million Nvidia shares after the gaming firm beat earnings

• Cathie Wood's ARK Invest bought almost 250,000 Nvidia shares for $43.7 million on Thursday.
• The chip designer reported strong revenues, but predicted declining sales and tough macroeconomic conditions.

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest bought almost $44 million in shares of Nvidia on Thursday, according to a trading update, after the tech company reported its first-quarter earnings.

ARK's purchase of 245,286 Nvidia shares at Thursday's closing price of $178.51 were worth $43.7 million.

Nvidia's earnings report showed stronger than expected revenues, but the chip maker warned that tough macroeconomic conditions would reduce its sales. The company said the Russia-Ukraine war and COVID restrictions in China would have a $500 million hit on its revenue for the current quarter.

Nvidia's revenue for the current quarter is expected to be $8.10 billion, "plus or minus 2%," the company said. Its revenue for the first quarter was $8.29 billion, up 46% from a year ago.

The company's shares dropped over 10% after the report on Wednesday, but had climbed back up by Thursday and closed the day up 5.16%. Nvidia stock is down over 37% in the year to date.

ARK bought Nvidia stock across three of its ETFs, including its flagship ARK Innovation ETF, ARKK, which bought the most, at over 191,000 shares. ARK had previously owned Nvidia stock but completely shed its holdings in November last year.

Analysts cut price Nvidia price targets after the announcement but remained optimistic on the company. Analysts at Bank of America maintained their "Buy" rating on the company, saying "Q2 miss with realigned gaming expectations, but reiterate Buy with product launches, data center strength driving growth."

Nvidia's announcement follows similar announcements by other tech companies. Notably, social media company Snap CEO said that the "challenging macroeconomic environment" would likely cause both revenue and expected earnings for the company to fall, according to a memo sent by CEO Evan Spiegel to employees on Monday. Snap will also considerably slow its pace of hiring.

Snap shares fell by as much as 38% after the announcement and dragged down other tech stocks like Twitter and Facebook-parent Meta.

After two years of strong growth, tech stocks have struggled this year, with rising interest rates and an economic slowdown driving the sell-off. Meta Platforms and Uber both recently announced they would reduce their 2022 hiring targets to curb costs.