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Twist Bioscience Stock Jumps As AI Deals Fuel Bullish Target Hike

BRYCE TUOHEY•UPDATED SEP. 24, 2026, 12:33 PM ET
Reviewed by Tim Sykesand Fact-checked by Matt Monaco

Twist Bioscience Corporation surged as investors cheered its breakthrough synthetic DNA partnership, and stocks have been trading up by 8.35 percent.

Key Takeaways

  • Twist Bioscience agreed to supply antibody characterization data and services into Eli Lilly’s AI/ML TuneLab platform, plugging its wet-lab workflows directly into Lilly’s drug discovery engine.
  • On the Lilly TuneLab headlines, TWST shares climbed, with reports noting gains above 4% and intraday pops including a 1.5% move.
  • Leerink boosted its TWST price target from $120 to $160 and kept an Outperform rating, pointing to conservative revenue guides and a big AI drug discovery runway.
  • The company said pilot work on AI-designed mini-binder proteins for Anthropic is already “probably sort of” baked into its fiscal 2027 orders outlook.
  • A recent Form 4 showed changes in beneficial ownership of TWST stock by an insider or major holder, a normal governance data point for traders to track.

Candlestick Chart

Live Update At 12:32:35 EDT: On Thursday, September 24, 2026 Twist Bioscience Corporation stock [NASDAQ: TWST] is trending up by 8.35%! Discover the key drivers behind this movement as well as our expert analysis in the detailed breakdown below.

Quick Financial Overview

Twist Bioscience, ticker TWST, has been acting like a classic momentum biotech name on the chart. Over the last few weeks, TWST ran from a close of $139 on 2026/08/31 to $171.74 on 2026/09/24. That’s a sharp uptrend, with only brief pullbacks. For short-term traders, this is the kind of staircase pattern that often attracts breakout and dip-buy strategies.

Intraday on 2026/09/24, TWST opened at $157.72, flushed to $156.83, then ripped as high as $179.92 before settling near the highs. That wide range shows aggressive demand and active trading all day. Volume isn’t listed here, but that kind of intraday range expansion usually comes with heavy participation.

More Breaking News

Fundamentally, TWST is still a high-growth, loss-making platform. Quarterly revenue came in at about $118.38M, with a gross margin near 52% but an operating loss of roughly $36.28M and a net loss of $35.05M. Profit margins and returns on equity are deeply negative, and the price-to-sales ratio near 25x keeps TWST firmly in “story stock” territory. On the positive side, current ratio of 2.7 and cash plus short-term investments of roughly $166.84M give the company breathing room. For traders, that mix screams volatility plus headline sensitivity.

Why Traders Are Watching TWST Right Now

Traders are glued to TWST because the story just shifted from pure synthetic biology growth to front-and-center AI drug discovery. Twist Bioscience locked in an agreement with Eli Lilly’s AI/ML TuneLab platform to provide antibody characterization data and related services. In simple terms, TWST runs the wet experiments, feeds clean, high-quality data into Lilly’s AI models, and helps train and refine those models for better antibody drug candidates.

That’s a big deal. TWST is no longer just selling tools; it is getting wired into a major pharma’s AI stack. Multiple reports confirm that after this Lilly TuneLab news hit on 2026/09/16, Twist Bioscience shares rose, with moves like a 4%+ pop and intraday gains of around 1.5%. Momentum traders love this kind of clean catalyst: clear headline, clear reaction.

The street noticed too. Leerink raised its TWST price target from $120 to $160 on 2026/09/17, sticking with an Outperform rating. Their thesis: Twist Bioscience has conservative revenue targets and is sitting on a huge, early-stage AI drug discovery opportunity. For TWST traders, that kind of target hike often invites follow-on buying, short squeezes, and options speculation.

There’s also a quieter AI angle. Twist Bioscience confirmed its pilot work making and testing AI-designed mini-binder proteins for Anthropic is “probably sort of” already included in its fiscal 2027 orders outlook. So it’s real work, but not hidden upside in the numbers. That nuance matters: TWST is clearly embedded with top-tier AI players, yet traders shouldn’t assume surprise revenue bombs from this one pilot.

Finally, a recent Form 4 flagged changes in beneficial ownership by an insider or large holder. Without details, that’s routine flow data, but TWST traders often watch insider moves as an extra signal on sentiment and potential supply or demand in the stock.

Conclusion

Twist Bioscience is giving traders exactly what they look for: a hot theme, clean catalysts, and big moves on the chart. TWST has tied itself to two of the strongest narratives in the market right now — AI and next-gen drug discovery — through its agreement with Eli Lilly’s TuneLab platform and its work on AI-designed proteins for Anthropic. The market’s reaction has been clear so far: higher prices, expanding ranges, and a fresh wave of attention.

Financially, TWST is not a value play. The company is burning cash, running negative margins, and trading at a steep revenue multiple. But with solid liquidity and recurring revenue growth, Twist Bioscience keeps buying itself time to prove that these AI-linked collaborations can scale. Leerink’s target hike to $160, on top of the existing run, shows that some on the street believe the upside case is still underappreciated.

For short-term traders, that means TWST is now a pure catalyst and momentum vehicle. Pullbacks into prior support, post-news consolidations, and failed breakdowns all become actionable patterns to study. As Tim Sykes loves to say, “Trade like a sniper, not a machine gun — wait for the best setups and cut losses quickly.” As millionaire penny stock trader and teacher Tim Sykes says, “The goal is not to win every trade but to protect your capital and keep moving forward.”. Twist Bioscience and TWST offer plenty of action, but the edge still goes to the traders who stay disciplined, respect the volatility, and treat every move as a research and education opportunity, not a guarantee.

This is stock news, not investment advice. Timothy Sykes News delivers real-time stock market news focused on key catalysts driving short-term price movements. Our content is tailored for active traders and investors seeking to capitalize on rapid price fluctuations, particularly in volatile sectors like penny stocks. Readers come to us for detailed coverage on earnings reports, mergers, FDA approvals, new contracts, and unusual trading volumes that can trigger significant short-term price action. Some users utilize our news to explain sudden stock movements, while others rely on it for diligent research into potential investment opportunities.

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The available research on day trading suggests that most active traders lose money. Fees and overtrading are major contributors to these losses.

A 2000 study called “Trading is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors” evaluated 66,465 U.S. households that held stocks from 1991 to 1996. The households that traded most averaged an 11.4% annual return during a period where the overall market gained 17.9%. These lower returns were attributed to overconfidence.

A 2014 paper (revised 2019) titled “Learning Fast or Slow?” analyzed the complete transaction history of the Taiwan Stock Exchange between 1992 and 2006. It looked at the ongoing performance of day traders in this sample, and found that 97% of day traders can expect to lose money from trading, and more than 90% of all day trading volume can be traced to investors who predictably lose money. Additionally, it tied the behavior of gamblers and drivers who get more speeding tickets to overtrading, and cited studies showing that legalized gambling has an inverse effect on trading volume.

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Citations for Disclaimer

Barber, Brad M. and Odean, Terrance, Trading is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors. Available at SSRN: “Day Trading for a Living?”

Barber, Brad M. and Lee, Yi-Tsung and Liu, Yu-Jane and Odean, Terrance and Zhang, Ke, Learning Fast or Slow? (May 28, 2019). Forthcoming: Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Available at SSRN: “https://ssrn.com/abstract=2535636”

Chague, Fernando and De-Losso, Rodrigo and Giovannetti, Bruno, Day Trading for a Living? (June 11, 2020). Available at SSRN: “https://ssrn.com/abstract=3423101”