Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Backblaze, Inc. $BLZE

Key Points

• Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC has significantly decreased its stake in Backblaze, Inc. by 42.9%, selling over 523,000 shares and retaining approximately 697,000 shares, which now constitutes 1.5% of its investment portfolio.
• Several other institutional investors have raised their positions in Backblaze, with JPMorgan Chase increasing its stake by 114.7% in the last quarter.
• Backblaze reported a loss of ($0.12) earnings per share for the last quarter, missing estimates, while analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $10.07.

Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE - Free Report) by 42.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 697,083 shares of the company's stock after selling 523,019 shares during the period. Backblaze accounts for approximately 1.5% of Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC owned about 1.28% of Backblaze worth $3,367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLZE. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of Backblaze by 300.9% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,052 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 5,293 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Backblaze during the first quarter worth about $48,000. Corton Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Backblaze during the first quarter worth about $52,000. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Backblaze during the fourth quarter worth about $68,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd grew its stake in shares of Backblaze by 135.3% during the first quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 14,730 shares of the company's stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 8,470 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.03% of the company's stock.

Backblaze Stock Performance

Shares of Backblaze stock traded up $0.49 on Friday, reaching $8.22. 976,953 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 675,775. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Backblaze, Inc. has a twelve month low of $3.94 and a twelve month high of $8.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $464.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.24 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $5.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.61.

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.07). Backblaze had a negative return on equity of 54.88% and a negative net margin of 31.72%.The firm had revenue of $36.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.41 million. Backblaze has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts anticipate that Backblaze, Inc. will post -1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLZE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Backblaze from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Citizens Jmp initiated coverage on Backblaze in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. They set a "strong-buy" rating and a $7.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Backblaze from $7.00 to $8.50 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and six have issued a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $10.07.

About Backblaze

Backblaze, Inc, a storage cloud platform, provides businesses and consumers cloud services to store, use, and protect data in the United States and internationally. The company offers cloud services through a web-scale software infrastructure built on commodity hardware. It also provides Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, which enables customers to store data, developers to build applications, and partners to expand their use cases.