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Twist Bioscience Revenues More Than Double in Q2 of FY 2019

This article has been updated with additional information from Twist Bioscience's earnings call.

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Twist Bioscience reported a 119 percent increase in second quarter fiscal year 2019 revenues after the close of market on Tuesday.

"We had another very strong quarter … driven by strong growth in both synbio and our genomics product line," said Emily Leproust, Twist's cofounder and CEO, during a conference call to discuss the financial results.

For the quarter ended March 31, Twist reported $13.6 million in revenues, up from $6.2 million during the same period last year. It beat analysts' average revenue estimate of $12 million. Of total revenues, $8 million came from synthetic biology products and $5.5 million from genomics and targeted NGS products.

Research and development expenses for the quarter totaled $8.9 million, up 89 percent from $4.7 million in Q2 of fiscal year 2018, reflecting increased investments in biopharma, data storage, and NGS product development. 

Selling, general and administrative expenses amounted to $19.1 million in Q2, up 91 percent from $10.0 million during the same period last year. They were associated with trade shows, as well as an expansion of the firm's sales and marketing team.

Twist's net loss for the quarter was $25.9 million or $.93 per share, up from 16.9 million or $6.32 per share in Q2 of fiscal year 2018. Analysts had estimated a loss of $.97 per share on average.

The company ended the quarter with $28.7 million in cash and cash equivalents and $75.6 million in short-term investments. Twist used approximately 27.9 million shares to calculate per-share loss in the recently completed quarter compared to about 2.7 million shares a year ago. The company filed for an IPO last October, in which it raised about $70 million.

Twist increased its guidance for revenue for fiscal year 2019. It now expects revenues in the range of $50 million to $52 million, up from $47 million to $49 million. The company also said it now expects an FY19 net loss ranging from $97 million to $99 million, up from $92 million to $94 million, due to an accelerated investment in R&D.

On Wednesday morning, Twist's stock was up 5.3 percent on the Nasdaq at $24.92.

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