There isn’t much information about TWST but I took a position at $15. A larger position than I should have then it subsequently went up 63% within a few days. I’m perplexed what to do with this now large position in a speculative stock.
There are only a few articles written about this company and tmf put out one of the best.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fool.com/amp/investing/2018…
Here is another:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nanalyze.com/2018/10/twist-…
Another:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/artic…
A few things stand out:
2 customers account for over 70% of sales and one is Microsoft who is experimenting with synthetic dna for digital storage. If Microsoft cancels because they don’t find it works twst’d sales get cut in half. If it works obviously that opens a lot of opportunity. Microsoft has been buying from TWST since at least 2016.
Second issue is they are being sued by Agilent for stealing trade secrets. The founder/ceo of twist used to work there. In my experience in the past lawsuits tend to not be so material that they significantly hamper the company accused of infringement.
Third they will have about $178 million in cash next quarter. they lost $51 million in the first 9 months of the year and their losses are increasing so they will need to raise cash within about 8 quarters or less. Meanwhile while their sales are growing quick it’s off a very small base,$17 million ytd vs $7 million comparable time frame last year.
Total available market of $1 billion which can grow as applications become relevant.
This is about as speculative as I get. But rather than total hype they do have products on the market.