Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its first-quarter 2026 investor letter for the “Artisan Mid Cap Fund”. A copy of the letter is available to download here. In Q1 2026, the Artisan Mid Cap Fund reported negative absolute returns but slightly outperformed the Russell Midcap® Growth Index. The market favored lower volatility and income-oriented equities, with value outpacing growth significantly. Despite challenges for growth strategies, selective stock choices in sectors like industrials and healthcare provided strength, while consumer discretionary faced weaknesses. Mid- and small-cap indices showed resilience amid lagging large-cap growth stocks. The escalating conflict in Iran influenced market behavior, and AI-related investments continued to support capital spending and earnings. In addition, please check the Fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2026.
In its first-quarter 2026 investor letter, Artisan Mid Cap Fund highlighted Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) as a notable contributor. Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) is a leading biotechnology company specializing in the manufacture and sale of synthetic DNA-based products. On May 7, 2026, Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) closed at $58.54 per share. One-month return of Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) was 22.19%, and its shares gained 89.94% over the past 52 weeks. Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion.
Artisan Mid Cap Fund stated the following regarding Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:
“Among our top contributors in Q1 were Comfort Systems, Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) and RBC Bearings. Comfort Systems is a provider of heating, ventilation and air conditioning services. Twist Bioscience is a life sciences company that leverages a proprietary silicon-based DNA writing platform, with synthetic biology applications across drug discovery, diagnostics, agriculture and industrial materials. Recent results exceeded expectations, with upside in revenue and gross margin, as the company raised full-year revenue guidance and confirmed its adjusted EBITDA breakeven in fiscal Q4 2026. We think Twist is well positioned for continued market share gains and its products are key enablers of novel cancer diagnostics. The company has also been seeing increased demand from large pharmaceutical and AI driven customers for sequence synthesis and data generation, which may support incremental growth as computational approaches gain broader adoption.”
Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) is not on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Heading Into 2026. According to our database, 24 hedge fund portfolios held Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) at the end of the fourth quarter, the same as in the previous quarter. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, Twist Bioscience Corporation’s (NASDAQ:TWST) total revenue rose to $110.7 million, reflecting a year-over-year increase of over 19%. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we covered Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) and shared a bullish thesis on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2026 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
