Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE) Stock Rated "Moderate Buy" by Sell-Side Brokerages

Key Points

• Analyst sentiment is moderately positive: Seven of nine covering firms rate Backblaze a buy, while one rates it hold and one sell. The average one-year price target is $18.57.
• Backblaze beat quarterly expectations, reporting earnings of $0.09 per share versus $0.05 expected and revenue of $46.65 million versus $44.59 million expected.
• Shares opened at $7.59, within a 52-week range of $3.26 to $23.99; institutional investors own 54.03% of the stock.

Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the nine research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.57.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Backblaze in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Lake Street Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Backblaze in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Backblaze from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Backblaze in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, B. Riley Financial boosted their price target on shares of Backblaze from $16.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th.

Backblaze Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BLZE opened at $7.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.82, a current ratio of 3.17 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Backblaze has a 1-year low of $3.26 and a 1-year high of $23.99. The company has a market capitalization of $469.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.48 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a 50-day moving average of $11.87 and a 200-day moving average of $9.26.

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $46.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.59 million. Backblaze had a negative return on equity of 13.34% and a negative net margin of 11.47%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Backblaze will post -0.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Backblaze

In other news, CFO Marc Suidan sold 2,110 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 $33,380.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 349,518 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,529,374.76. This represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 stock in a transaction 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $34,679,069.46. The trade was a 0.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 4.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Backblaze

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BLZE. AWM Investment Company Inc. bought a new stake in Backblaze during the second quarter worth approximately $22,207,000. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Backblaze by 176.7% in the 3rd quarter. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. now owns 1,266,421 shares of the company's stock valued at $17,717,000 after purchasing an additional 808,668 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Backblaze by 44.6% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,172,657 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,046,000 after purchasing an additional 361,905 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Backblaze by 152.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 517,586 shares of the company's stock worth $1,785,000 after purchasing an additional 312,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Backblaze in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,074,000. Institutional investors own 54.03% of the company's stock.

Backblaze Company Profile

Backblaze, Inc provides cloud storage and data backup services for businesses, developers and individual users. The company's offerings are designed to help customers protect, store, manage and access data without maintaining their own extensive storage infrastructure.

Its primary products include Backblaze Computer Backup, a subscription service that automatically backs up data from computers, and Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, an object-storage platform used for applications such as backup, archiving, content storage and media workflows.

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