Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE) Stock Has Average Price Target of $19.71

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Backblaze, with eight buy ratings, one hold, and one sell. The average 12-month price target is $19.71, above the reported share price of $12.69.
• Backblaze exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.08 EPS versus a $0.02 estimate and revenue of $42.71 million versus $39.94 million expected. However, the company remained unprofitable, with a negative 13.07% net margin.
• Institutional ownership stands at 54.03%, with several major investors increasing their positions or initiating stakes. The CEO and CFO also sold shares to cover tax obligations tied to vested equity awards.

Shares of Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $19.71.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Backblaze in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. B. Riley Financial increased their price target on Backblaze from $16.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Lake Street Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Backblaze in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Backblaze from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Backblaze from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th.

Backblaze Price Performance

NASDAQ BLZE opened at $12.69 on Monday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $15.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.89. 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 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $42.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.94 million. Backblaze had a negative return on equity of 16.73% and a negative net margin of 13.07%. Analysts forecast that Backblaze will post -0.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Backblaze

In related news, CFO Marc Suidan sold 2,110 shares of Backblaze 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 $33,380.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 349,518 shares in the company, valued at $5,529,374.76. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Gleb Budman sold 12,855 shares of the business's 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 $203,366.10. Following the sale, 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Company insiders own 4.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Backblaze

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AWM Investment Company Inc. purchased a new position in Backblaze in the 2nd quarter worth $22,207,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Backblaze by 44.6% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,172,657 shares of the company's stock worth $4,046,000 after acquiring an additional 361,905 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Backblaze by 152.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 517,586 shares of the company's stock worth $1,785,000 after acquiring an additional 312,459 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Backblaze during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,074,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in Backblaze by 385.1% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 155,417 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,465,000 after purchasing an additional 123,382 shares during the last quarter. 54.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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