Investors Buy High Volume of Braze Put Options (NASDAQ:BRZE)

Key Points

• Put-option activity surged: Traders purchased 5,672 Braze put options, about 180% above the average volume of 2,029, signaling increased downside hedging or bearish speculation.
• Braze beat fiscal Q2 expectations, with revenue rising 26.2% year over year to $227.2 million and adjusted EPS of $0.19. Management also raised fiscal 2027 revenue and adjusted EPS guidance, citing AI adoption and operating leverage.
• Despite the strong results, shares faced pressure because third-quarter profit guidance disappointed investor expectations; the stock traded at $24.04, while analysts maintained a broadly bullish “Moderate Buy” consensus with a $38.21 target.

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 5,672 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 180% compared to the average volume of 2,029 put options.

Key Headlines Impacting Braze

Here are the key news stories impacting Braze this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Braze reported fiscal Q2 revenue of $227.2 million, up 26.2% year over year and above the $220.3 million consensus estimate. Adjusted EPS of $0.19 also exceeded expectations of $0.16 and rose from $0.15 a year ago. Braze Reports Strong Fiscal Second Quarter 2027 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised fiscal 2027 revenue guidance to $910 million-$913 million, representing roughly 23%-24% growth, and lifted adjusted EPS guidance to $0.64-$0.65 versus the prior consensus of $0.35. The company cited AI product adoption, enterprise expansion, improving operating leverage and record second-quarter free cash flow. Braze Growth and Guidance Analysis
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts maintained bullish ratings or raised targets following the report. Stephens increased its target to $34, Piper Sandler to $30, and DA Davidson set a $40 target; BTIG, Citizens JMP and TD Cowen also reaffirmed positive ratings. JPMorgan maintained an overweight rating with a $34 target despite a modest reduction from $35.
• Neutral Sentiment: Third-quarter guidance calls for revenue of $229 million-$230 million and adjusted EPS of $0.13-$0.14, both above published consensus estimates. However, the outlook appears less impressive relative to investor expectations and implies a slower near-term profit trajectory.
• Negative Sentiment: The immediate selloff reflects disappointment with the third-quarter profit outlook. Investors looked past the Q2 beat and full-year guidance increase because the forecast raised concerns about near-term earnings growth, overshadowing continued revenue momentum and AI adoption. Braze Stock After Disappointing Profit Outlook

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Braze from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Braze in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Braze in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Braze from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Braze in a report on Wednesday. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $38.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Braze

In other Braze news, insider Astha Malik sold 15,724 shares of Braze stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.57, for a total value of $464,958.68. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 326,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,646,709.81. The trade was a 4.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CRO Edward Mcdonnell sold 29,732 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.38, for a total value of $932,990.16. Following the transaction, the executive owned 409,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,854,189.40. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 203,568 shares of company stock valued at $6,096,461 in the last 90 days. 12.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Braze

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Braze by 1,832.1% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,019,361 shares of the company's stock worth $43,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,914,845 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its position in Braze by 592.4% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,105,024 shares of the company's stock valued at $72,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,801,019 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Braze by 421.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,279,678 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,394,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,087 shares during the last quarter. Battery Management CORP. grew its position in shares of Braze by 70.2% during the 3rd quarter. Battery Management CORP. now owns 2,425,000 shares of the company's stock worth $68,967,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Braze by 238.2% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,351,227 shares of the company's stock worth $38,429,000 after buying an additional 951,674 shares during the last quarter. 90.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Braze Price Performance

Shares of BRZE traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $24.04. The stock had a trading volume of 1,259,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,975,633. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.38 and a beta of 0.88. The company's fifty day moving average is $27.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.58. Braze has a 52 week low of $15.26 and a 52 week high of $37.33.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.03. Braze had a negative net margin of 13.55% and a negative return on equity of 16.09%. The firm had revenue of $227.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.27 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.15 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Braze has set its FY 2027 guidance at 0.640-0.650 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.130-0.140 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Braze will post -0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Braze Company Profile

Braze, Inc is a publicly traded software company NASDAQ: BRZE that offers a customer engagement platform designed to help brands build personalized relationships with their users. Founded in 2011 as Appboy by Bill Magnuson, Jon Hyman and Mark Ghermezian, the company adopted the Braze name in 2017 to underscore its focus on fostering strong connections between businesses and consumers. Its cloud-based platform consolidates messaging channels including push notifications, in-app messages, email and SMS, enabling companies to deliver timely, context-driven communications at scale.

The core functionality of Braze's platform centers on data-driven segmentation, customer journey orchestration and real-time analytics.

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