Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) Stock Price Down 4.7% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Backblaze shares fell 4.7% to $13.1390 in light trading, with volume down 93% from the average session.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: the stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating, with eight Buy ratings and an average price target of $19.71.
• Backblaze beat quarterly expectations, reporting $0.08 in EPS versus a $0.02 consensus estimate and revenue of $42.71 million versus $39.94 million expected, though it remains unprofitable.

Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 4.7% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $13.29 and last traded at $13.1390. Approximately 155,863 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 93% from the average session volume of 2,123,841 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.79.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLZE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Backblaze from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Backblaze in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Backblaze in a report on Thursday, September 10th. Craig Hallum upgraded Backblaze from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $6.50 to $16.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Backblaze from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $19.71.

Backblaze Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $805.88 million, a P/E ratio of -38.23 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.77.

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $42.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.94 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Backblaze, Inc. will post -0.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Backblaze

In other news, CFO Marc Suidan sold 2,110 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 Backblaze stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,192,103 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,679,069.46. This represents a 0.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Company insiders own 4.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Backblaze

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLZE. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in Backblaze during the second quarter worth $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 lifted its stake 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 last quarter. 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, AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in Backblaze in the 2nd quarter valued at about $314,000. Institutional investors own 54.03% of the company's stock.

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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