Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) Stock Falls 8.4% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Backblaze shares fell 8.4% to approximately $11.46, with trading volume down 81% from the stock’s average daily volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: eight analysts rate the stock Buy, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $19.71. However, the company remains unprofitable, with a negative net margin and analysts expecting a full-year loss.
• Backblaze exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $42.71 million in revenue and EPS of $0.08 versus the $0.02 consensus estimate. Recent insider sales were made by the CEO and CFO to cover tax obligations tied to vested equity awards.

Shares of Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE - Get Free Report) fell 8.4% during trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $11.72 and last traded at $11.4620. 394,499 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 2,072,720 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.51.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BLZE shares. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Backblaze from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Backblaze in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating on shares of Backblaze in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Backblaze in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Lake Street Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Backblaze in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Backblaze currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $19.71.

Backblaze Stock Down 20.0%

The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $619.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.10 and a beta of 1.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $14.88 and a 200-day moving average of $11.01.

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $42.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.94 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Backblaze, Inc. will post -0.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Marc Suidan sold 2,110 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 transaction of $33,380.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 349,518 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,529,374.76. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $15.82, for a total transaction of $203,366.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,192,103 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,679,069.46. This represents a 0.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Backblaze

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AWM Investment Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Backblaze in the second quarter worth about $22,207,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Backblaze by 44.6% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,172,657 shares of the company's stock worth $4,046,000 after purchasing an additional 361,905 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Backblaze by 152.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 517,586 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,785,000 after buying an additional 312,459 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Backblaze during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,074,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in Backblaze by 385.1% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 155,417 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,465,000 after acquiring an additional 123,382 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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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