Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) Stock Moved Up to Buy by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Backblaze from “hold” to “buy,” joining a generally positive analyst outlook. Eight analysts rate the stock a Buy, with an average price target of $19.71.
• Backblaze reported quarterly revenue of $42.71 million and EPS of $0.08, exceeding analyst expectations of $39.94 million in revenue and $0.02 EPS, though the company remained unprofitable.
• BLZE shares opened at $12.69, below their 50-day moving average of $15.08 but above their 200-day average of $10.84. Company executives sold shares to cover tax obligations, while institutional investors own 54.03% of the stock.

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on BLZE. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Backblaze from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Lake Street Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Backblaze in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Craig Hallum upgraded Backblaze from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $6.50 to $16.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Backblaze in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised their target price on Backblaze from $16.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $19.71.

Backblaze Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of BLZE opened at $12.69 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Backblaze has a 12-month low of $3.26 and a 12-month high of $23.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $15.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $785.51 million, a P/E ratio of -37.32 and a beta of 1.56.

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.06. Backblaze had a negative net margin of 13.07% and a negative return on equity of 16.73%. The firm had revenue of $42.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $39.94 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Backblaze will post -0.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Backblaze

In other news, CEO Gleb Budman sold 12,855 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.82, for a total value of $203,366.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,192,103 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,679,069.46. This represents a 0.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Marc Suidan sold 2,110 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.82, for a total transaction of $33,380.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 349,518 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,529,374.76. The trade was a 0.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 4.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Backblaze

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLZE. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Backblaze in the second quarter valued at $295,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Backblaze during the 2nd quarter worth about $77,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in Backblaze by 385.1% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 155,417 shares of the company's stock worth $2,465,000 after acquiring an additional 123,382 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Backblaze by 83.8% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,726 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 787 shares during the period. Finally, AXQ Capital LP purchased a new position in Backblaze during the 2nd quarter valued at about $314,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.03% of the company's stock.

About Backblaze

Backblaze, Inc provides cloud storage and data backup services for businesses, developers, and individual customers. Its platform is designed to help organizations store, protect, manage, and access data without maintaining their own extensive physical storage infrastructure.

The company's primary offerings include Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, an object storage service for applications, backup systems, content delivery, and data-intensive workloads, and Backblaze Computer Backup, which automatically backs up data from computers.

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