Twist Bioscience Q4 2026: Revenue Beats but EPS Miss Flags Cost Pressure

Twist Bioscience closed its fiscal fourth quarter with revenue of $126.6 million, up 27.9% year over year and ahead of the $123.6 million consensus by 2.5%. Both reporting segments contributed to that strength, with DNA Synthesis and Protein Solutions growing 33% year over year and NGS Applications advancing 24%.

The earnings picture was messier. The GAAP loss per share came in at $0.32, well past the $0.20 analyst estimate, a miss of roughly 58%. The shortfall traced directly to SG&A, which climbed to $74.7 million from $63.8 million a year earlier, absorbing much of the gross margin progress the company made elsewhere. Gross margin did expand, reaching 53.1% compared with 51.3% in the prior-year quarter.

On the brighter side, quarterly adjusted EBITDA turned positive at $2.2 million, reversing a loss of $7.8 million a year ago. Twist also ended the year with roughly $582 million in cash after raising approximately $425 million through equity activity, giving the company a firmer runway to fund its two-year capacity expansion plan.

Fiscal 2027 guidance calls for total revenue of $550 million to $560 million, about 21% growth at the midpoint, with $100 million of that figure expected from AI drug discovery customers. That concentration is the central question investors are weighing right now: whether that segment delivers at the scale management is projecting, or whether the reliance on a single end-market becomes a vulnerability. For the first quarter of fiscal 2027, Twist guided revenue to approximately $130 million to $132 million, implying about 26% growth at the midpoint.

CEO Emily M. Leproust framed the results as confirmation of the company's trajectory, stating that fiscal 2026 demonstrated strong top-line revenue growth, expanded gross margin, and positive adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter while also broadening capabilities and strengthening the balance sheet. The company also launched two new products in the quarter, Twist Express Screening Antibodies and Twist MRD Express, the latter offering custom panels with turnaround as fast as one day.