Twist Bioscience Shares Drop 10% After Short-Seller Report

Twist Bioscience Corp shares declined 10% on Thursday following a critical report from short-seller The Bear Cave. The analysis argues that the company's premium valuation is detached from its underlying economics, characterizing the firm as a life sciences tools vendor in a crowded market rather than a unique beneficiary of generative AI.

The report, authored by Hunterbrook Media LLC, claims investors misconstrued standard commercial relationships with partners such as Anthropic as proprietary strategic alliances. According to the analysis, Twist Bioscience allegedly acted as a contract testing vendor rather than a strategic partner.

The Bear Cave further highlighted competitive headwinds in sequencing reagents, protein assessment, and synthetic DNA. The report suggests that the company's high valuation multiple leaves little room for error ahead of its next quarterly financial results. Chief Executive Emily LeProust has maintained an optimistic operational tone in recent discussions.