Twist Bioscience Misses Q4 Earnings Expectations, Shares Drop 11.3%

Shares of Twist Bioscience (TWST) were down 11.3% on November 22 to close at $98.17, and lost another 0.8% during the extended trading session after the synthetic biology and genomics company reported mixed fiscal Q4 results.

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Based in Southern San Francisco, Twist manufactures synthetic biology tools for next-generation sequencing (NGS), DNA-based products, and antibody libraries for drug development and discovery. Its products are used in academic research, agriculture, industrial chemicals, and healthcare sectors. (See Twist Bioscience stock chart on TipRanks)

Mixed Q4 Results

The company reported an adjusted loss of $0.84 per share, falling five cents short of the analysts’ estimated loss of $0.79. Q4 loss was much higher than the reported loss of $0.54 per share in the prior-year period.

Meanwhile, Q4 revenues increased 17% year-over-year to $38 million and slightly exceeded consensus estimates of $37.02 million. The increase in revenues was driven by a single $9 million order that was shipped during the quarter.

Total orders amounted to $45.2 million, up from $42.7 million in the fourth quarter of Fiscal 2020.

Guidance

Looking ahead, the company provided the financial guidance for FY2022. The company forecast revenues in the range of $183 million to $193 million, assuming the completion of the Abveris acquisition in the first quarter of fiscal 2022. Meanwhile, the consensus estimate is pegged at $131.11 million.

For the fiscal first quarter, revenues are forecast to be in the range of $37 million to $39 million.

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Management Weighs In

Looking ahead, Twist Bioscience CEO, Emily M. Leproust, commented, “Subject to regulatory approval, we expect to have the first Twist-discovered antibody in the clinic in 2022 and we also signed an agreement to acquire Abveris, which will augment our capabilities by adding animal-based discovery. In data storage, we achieved several technical milestones and are now preparing for early access launch with our 1-micron proof-of-concept chip.”

CFO Jim Thorburn, added, “We expect fiscal 2022 to be a year of investment in the biopharma and data storage areas, as well as ramping up production at the Factory of the Future to set the stage for escalating growth moving forward.”

Analysts Recommendation

Overall, the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus based on 2 Buys and 2 Holds. The average Twist Bioscience price target of $140 implies 42.6% upside potential.