Billionaire Cliff Asness is Selling These 5 Stocks in 2022

2. Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 16

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California. It is a synthetic biology company that manufactures and sells synthetic DNA-based products. Cliff Asness’ fund held 3,483 shares of Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) in Q4 2021, worth $270,000. AQR Capital Management dumped its stake in the company in Q1 2022. 

On May 9, Barclays analyst Luke Sergott slashed the price target on Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) to $40 from $60 and maintained an Overweight rating on the shares. The company reported an in-line quarter versus Barclays’ projections of a modest beat, the analyst told investors in a research note.

According to Insider Monkey’s Q1 database, 16 hedge funds held long positions in Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST), with collective stakes worth $459.6 million, compared to the same number of funds in the earlier quarter, holding stakes in the company valued at $564.7 million. Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management is the leading shareholder of the company, with 5.2 million shares worth about $260 million. 

Here is what Baron Funds has to say about Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) in its Q2 2021 investor letter:

“We initiated a position in Twist Bioscience Corporation, a provider of synthetic DNA. The company’s proprietary semiconductor-based platform has driven its position as the low-cost provider of DNA for a variety of high-growth applications. These include the attractive areas of synthetic biology, liquid biopsy, and antibody discovery. Of note, the antibody business has the potential to become a source of high-margin royalty streams in the future.

As further optionality, we believe Twist has a shot at disrupting the entire digital data storage industry with DNA-based storage.”