Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ: TWST) reported Q1 EPS of ($1.69), $0.86 worse than the analyst estimate of ($0.83). Revenue for the quarter came in at $17.16 million versus the consensus estimate of $16.07 million.

FISCAL 2020 FIRST QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS

• Orders: Total orders received for the first quarter of fiscal 2020 were $24.8 million, compared to $15.2 million for the same period of fiscal 2019.
• Revenue: Total revenues were $17.2 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2020 compared to $11.5 million for the same period of fiscal 2019.
• Cost of Revenues: Cost of revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2020 was $13.8 million compared to $11.9 million for the same period of fiscal 2019.
• Research and Development Expenses: Research and development expenses for the first quarter of fiscal 2020 were $10.3 million compared to $7.3 million for the same period of fiscal 2019.
• Selling, General and Administrative Expenses: Selling, general and administrative expenses for the first quarter of fiscal 2020 were $26.4 million compared to $15.3 million for the same period of fiscal 2019.
• Litigation Settlement Expense: Litigation settlement expense for the first quarter of fiscal 2020 was $22.5 million.
• Net Loss Including Litigation Settlement: Net loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2020 was $55.6 million, or $1.69 per share, compared to $22.6 million, or $1.18 per share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2019.
• Net Loss Excluding Litigation Settlement: Net loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2020 was $33.1 million, or $1.00 per share, compared to $22.6 million, or $1.18 per share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2019.
• Cash Position: As of December 31, 2019, the company had $103.1 million in cash, cash equivalents and short term investments.

“With the uncertainty of the litigation removed, we have a clear runway to leverage our increasing product line and growing revenue base to pursue the opportunities ahead,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist. “Fiscal 2020 is off to a strong start and we are encouraged by the robust increase in revenue across our core synthetic biology and NGS businesses. In addition, we look forward to diversification and growth in these businesses as we introduce new products to address specialty markets on the synbio side, and pursuing additional opportunities in oncology and SNP microarray markets in NGS.”

“As for our business verticals, we recently achieved significant milestones in both biopharma and data storage, announcing a collaboration with Schrödinger, Inc. and a collaboration through IARPA and Georgia Tech Research Institute for a project to make long-term DNA data storage accessible and commercially viable. We are excited about these opportunities and look forward to announcing additional partnerships to validate our biopharma platform in 2020.”

“Revenues of $17.2 million was ahead of our guidance and we posted a positive gross margin of $3.4 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2020,” commented Jim Thorburn, CFO of Twist. “Our cash balance as of December 31, 2019 was $103.1 million and, as we noted in our press release last week, we strengthened our balance sheet with $48.2 million in net proceeds from our recent at-the-market program.”

GUIDANCE:

Twist Bioscience Corporation sees FY2020 revenue of $80-84 million, versus the consensus of $82.52 million.

The following statements are based on Twist’s current expectations for fiscal 2020. The following statements are forward-looking, and actual results could differ materially depending on market conditions and the factors set forth under “Forward-Looking Statements” below. Twist does not plan to update, nor does it undertake any obligation to update, this outlook in the future.

For the full fiscal year 2020, Twist provided the following updated financial guidance:

• Revenue expected in the range of $80 to $84 million consistent with our previous guidance
  • Revenue from Ginkgo Bioworks expected to be approximately $10 million
  • Synbio revenue excluding Ginkgo Bioworks is expected to be in the range of $32 to $33 million
  • NGS revenue is estimated to be in the range of $37 to $40 million
  • Biopharma revenue is estimated to be approximately $1.0
• Gross margin is expected to be approximately 32% for fiscal 2020
• Net loss (Excluding Litigation Settlement) is expected in the range of $107 million to $110 million, an increase from our previous guidance of $103 to $106 million primarily due to legal fees associated with the Agilent litigation in anticipation of a trial beginning February 24, 2020. Net loss (Including Litigation Settlement) expected in the range of $129.5 to $132.5 million.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Twist Bioscience Corporation (TWST) click here.