Twist Bioscience reports a customer base of about 3,450 accounts. While not every account places an order every quarter, a stagnant trend in customer growth adds a little wrinkle for investors. The company reported 1,836 accounts placed orders in the fiscal third quarter of 2021. By the fiscal third quarter of 2024, that number had grown just 25% to 2,300. Revenue jumped 132% in the same span.

How the heck has the company grown so quickly without adding more customers? The average account is ordering more genes than before. That's likely driven by a mix of factors, such as larger accounts becoming increasingly comfortable using the platform. For example, the number of genes per shipment hasn't increased much since fiscal Q1 2023. Customers simply appear to be ordering more frequently.

Although stagnant customer growth doesn't appear to be a headwind right now, it's the type of risk that can unravel an investing thesis relatively quickly. Keep a close eye on this metric and management's plans to expand the customer base over time.