Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.17 EPS

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) released its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The company reported ($0.71) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.54) by ($0.17), Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $110.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $107.64 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative return on equity of 27.16% and a negative net margin of 19.56%.The business’s revenue was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Here are the key takeaways from Twist Bioscience’s conference call:

• Twist reported Q2 revenue of $110.7M (+19% YoY), 13th consecutive quarter of sequential revenue growth, gross margin of 51.6%, and reiterated the target to reach adjusted EBITDA breakeven in Q4 FY2026.
• DNA synthesis & protein solutions grew 28% YoY, driven by AI-enabled drug discovery demand and validated by a new wet-lab partnership with Amazon Bio Discovery and collaborations with MSK and Johns Hopkins.
• NGS applications revenue grew 12% YoY (9% sequentially) with particular strength in oncology diagnostics and MRD panels, and management expects NGS to drive H2 sequential growth and return to ~20% growth by Q4.
• Management is improving manufacturing acceptance rates (targeting ~99.5% of Clonal Genes and ~99.9% of all DNA products), a change expected to capture more orders, expand wallet share, and strengthen competitive differentiation.
• Operating expenses rose to $95.8M as the company invested in commercial and digital capabilities, adjusted EBITDA remained a $13.3M loss (albeit improved), a ~$17.1M securities settlement produced a $7.2M Q2 charge, and cash fell to $171.7M, indicating near-term cash and expense pressure.

Twist Bioscience Stock Down 3.6%

NASDAQ:TWST traded down $2.19 on Monday, hitting $58.21. 333,097 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,312,826. The company has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a PE ratio of -45.65 and a beta of 2.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $50.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.06. Twist Bioscience has a 1 year low of $23.30 and a 1 year high of $66.06. The company has a current ratio of 3.78, a quick ratio of 3.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on TWST. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Friday, March 27th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Evercore lifted their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Adam Laponis sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $240,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 118,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,121,640. This represents a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert Chess sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $470,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 21,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $990,948. This represents a 32.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 63,220 shares of company stock worth $3,265,601 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TWST. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 5,377,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295,672 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Twist Bioscience by 151.5% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,793,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080,722 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,559,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,787,000 after purchasing an additional 832,687 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 934.0% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 628,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,113,000 after purchasing an additional 567,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,818 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,074,000 after purchasing an additional 538,755 shares in the last quarter.

Twist Bioscience Company Profile

Twist Bioscience Corporation is a synthetic biology company specializing in the development and commercialization of DNA-based products and solutions. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in South San Francisco, California, the company has pioneered a proprietary silicon-based DNA synthesis platform designed for high-throughput production of synthetic genes and oligonucleotides. Twist leverages semiconductor manufacturing techniques to enable precise, scalable synthesis of DNA at speeds and volumes unattainable with traditional methods.

At the core of Twist’s offering is its proprietary platform that automates the synthesis of custom DNA fragments, gene libraries, and long oligonucleotides.