SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Corporation (NASDAQ: TWST), a synthetic biology company, has appointed Mike Fero, Ph.D., as its new Chief Information Officer. Dr. Fero brings over three decades of experience in startups, software development, and deep-tech industries.
Dr. Fero's background includes co-founding TeselaGen Biotechnology and serving as CEO, where he led the development of an enterprise software platform for biotech applications. His academic tenure includes a principal investigator role and NIH Career Fellowship at Stanford University, as well as directorship at Stanford Functional Genomics. He also contributed to the human and murine genome scale microarrays and held a vice president position at Neomorphic, where he developed a laboratory information management system for the human genome project.
Twist Bioscience CEO Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., expressed confidence in Dr. Fero's ability to enhance the company's technology infrastructure and product execution efficiency, citing his unique understanding of the company's mission and his experience as a Twist customer.
Dr. Fero, who joined Twist as a consultant in March, emphasized his commitment to increasing system efficiency and improving stakeholder experiences. His aim is to leverage technology to scale the company's operations.
Twist Bioscience specializes in synthetic DNA production, utilizing a proprietary silicon-based platform. The company provides synthetic genes, tools for next-generation sequencing, and antibody libraries for drug discovery and development. It also explores opportunities in digital data storage in DNA and biologics drug discovery.
This news is based on a press release statement from Twist Bioscience Corporation . The company has cautioned that forward-looking statements in the press release are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected outcomes.
In other recent news, Twist Bioscience Corporation has seen significant growth, reporting a robust 28% year-over-year increase in revenue for the fiscal third quarter of 2024, totaling $81.5 million. The company's gross margin also improved notably to 43.3%, with a target to exceed 50% by the end of fiscal 2025. Additionally, Twist Bioscience anticipates a 27% increase in total revenue for fiscal 2024 year-over-year, with projected Q4 revenue between $82 million and $83 million.
Baird, a financial services firm, has maintained its Outperform rating on Twist Bioscience. The firm's analysis of the company's Express Genes pricing premiums shows a consistent demand, with the average premium for academic clients standing at approximately 43%, while the industry sector saw an even higher average premium of around 75%.
Twist Bioscience has also announced an expansion in its DNA synthesis capabilities, now offering gene fragments up to 5.0 kilobases in length. In collaboration with bitBiome Inc., the company has launched a Transaminase Enzyme Screening Kit, aiming to provide a more environmentally friendly alternative for synthesizing chiral amines, key components in drug manufacturing. These are recent developments in Twist Bioscience's operations and strategic initiatives.
InvestingPro Insights
Twist Bioscience's appointment of Mike Fero as Chief Information Officer comes at a time when the company is experiencing significant growth and volatility in its stock performance. According to InvestingPro data, Twist has seen a remarkable 174.68% price total return over the past year, with a 59.51% increase in the last six months alone. This growth trajectory aligns with the company's focus on enhancing its technological infrastructure and operational efficiency, which Dr. Fero is expected to spearhead.
Despite the positive stock performance, InvestingPro Tips highlight that Twist Bioscience is not currently profitable, with analysts not anticipating profitability this year. This is reflected in the company's negative operating income of -189.94 million USD for the last twelve months as of Q3 2023. However, the company's revenue growth of 25.37% over the same period suggests that Twist is in an expansion phase, which may justify its current focus on scaling operations rather than immediate profitability.
The company's liquid assets exceeding short-term obligations, as noted in an InvestingPro Tip, indicates a solid financial foundation to support its growth initiatives and technological investments under Dr. Fero's leadership. With a market cap of 2.73 billion USD and a price-to-book ratio of 5.56, Twist is trading at a premium, reflecting investor confidence in its future potential.
For readers interested in a deeper analysis, InvestingPro offers 10 additional tips for Twist Bioscience, providing a more comprehensive view of the company's financial health and market position.
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