Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) Shares Climb 5.2% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Backblaze shares rose 5.2% to $9.05 in Monday trading, though volume was sharply below average.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: eight analysts rate the stock a Buy, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $19.71.
• Backblaze exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.08 in EPS versus $0.02 expected and revenue of $42.71 million versus $39.94 million, although it remained unprofitable with a negative 13.07% net margin.

Shares of Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE - Get Free Report) traded up 5.2% during trading on Monday. The stock traded as high as $9.23 and last traded at $9.05. 313,806 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 2,089,984 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on BLZE. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of Backblaze from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $6.50 to $16.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Lake Street Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Backblaze in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. B. Riley Financial boosted their target price on shares of Backblaze from $16.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Backblaze from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, October 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on Backblaze from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $19.71.

Backblaze Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $564.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.79 and a beta of 1.56. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.06. Backblaze had a negative net margin of 13.07% and a negative return on equity of 16.73%. The business had revenue of $42.71 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.94 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Backblaze, Inc. will post -0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Backblaze

In other news, CEO Gleb Budman sold 12,855 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.82, for a total transaction of $203,366.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,192,103 shares in the company, valued at $34,679,069.46. This represents a 0.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Marc Suidan sold 2,110 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 349,518 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,529,374.76. This represents a 0.60% 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Backblaze

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Backblaze by 83.8% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,726 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 787 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new position in shares of Backblaze in the third quarter valued at about $55,000. State of Wyoming boosted its stake in shares of Backblaze by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 30,980 shares of the company's stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 4,679 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Backblaze during the second quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Backblaze in the 2nd quarter worth about $237,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.03% of the company's stock.

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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