Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Backblaze short interest surged 135.5% to 4.21 million shares as of August 31, representing 7.1% of shares outstanding and 1.3 days of average trading volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with eight Buy ratings, one Hold and one Sell; the consensus rating is “Moderate Buy” with a $19.71 price target.
• Backblaze exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $42.71 million in revenue and $0.08 earnings per share versus forecasts of $39.94 million and $0.02, respectively.

Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 4,210,311 shares, an increase of 135.5% from the August 15th total of 1,787,453 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,266,036 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days. Currently, 7.1% of the company's shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citizens Jmp raised their price objective on shares of Backblaze from $16.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Backblaze from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Craig Hallum raised Backblaze from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $6.50 to $16.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. William Blair upgraded Backblaze from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Backblaze in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $19.71.

Insider Activity

In other Backblaze 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 owned 349,518 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,529,374.76. This represents a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.82, for a total value of $203,366.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,192,103 shares in the company, valued at $34,679,069.46. The trade was 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. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Backblaze

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Backblaze in the second quarter valued at $295,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Backblaze during the 2nd quarter worth about $77,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 123,382 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Backblaze by 83.8% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,726 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 787 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Backblaze by 319.2% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 12,514 shares of the company's stock valued at $198,000 after buying an additional 9,529 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.03% of the company's stock.

Backblaze Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BLZE opened at $12.40 on Monday. Backblaze has a 52-week low of $3.26 and a 52-week high of $23.99. The company has a market capitalization of $767.56 million, a P/E ratio of -36.47 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

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

Backblaze Company Profile

Backblaze, Inc provides cloud storage and data backup services for businesses, developers and individual users. Its platform is designed to help customers store, protect, manage and recover data through scalable cloud-based infrastructure.

The company's principal offerings include Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, an object-storage service used for applications, content distribution, backup, archiving and disaster recovery, and Backblaze Computer Backup, which helps individuals and organizations back up data from computers.

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