Needham & Company LLC Has Lowered Expectations for Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) Stock Price

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) had its price objective decreased by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $23.00 to $15.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 102.70% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Backblaze in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Backblaze in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Backblaze from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Citizens Jmp raised their target price 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. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised their target price on shares of Backblaze from $16.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.57.

Backblaze Stock Performance

BLZE opened at $7.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $458.06 million, a PE ratio of -21.76 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.21. Backblaze has a fifty-two week low of $3.26 and a fifty-two week high of $23.99.

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $46.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.59 million. Backblaze had a negative return on equity of 16.73% and a negative net margin of 13.07%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Backblaze will post -0.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Backblaze

In other news, CEO Gleb Budman sold 12,855 shares of Backblaze 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 owned 2,192,103 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,679,069.46. The trade was a 0.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 company’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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 349,518 shares in the company, valued at $5,529,374.76. The trade was a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLZE. AWM Investment Company Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Backblaze during the 2nd quarter valued at $22,207,000. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Backblaze by 176.7% during the 3rd quarter. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. now owns 1,266,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,717,000 after acquiring an additional 808,668 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $4,046,000 after acquiring an additional 361,905 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Backblaze by 152.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 517,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,785,000 after acquiring an additional 312,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Backblaze in the second quarter worth $3,074,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Backblaze News

Here are the key news stories impacting Backblaze this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 results topped estimates: Backblaze reported adjusted earnings of $0.09 per share, above the $0.04-$0.05 analyst consensus, while revenue reached $46.65 million versus expectations of approximately $44.6 million. Earnings also improved from $0.03 per share in the year-ago quarter. Backblaze Announces Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Strong B2 momentum: CEO Gleb Budman said B2 revenue growth accelerated to 47% year over year from 28% a year earlier. The company also added a record number of net new B2 self-serve customers, indicating broad-based demand for its cloud storage platform. Backblaze Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
• Positive Sentiment: Revenue guidance exceeded expectations: Backblaze projected fourth-quarter 2026 revenue of $49.8 million to $50.2 million, above the $47.0 million consensus estimate. Full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $177.8 million to $178.2 million also surpassed the $173.0 million consensus. Management additionally targeted a 32%-34% adjusted EBITDA margin for the fourth quarter. Backblaze Q4 Revenue and EBITDA Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Profitability remains a concern: Despite the adjusted earnings beat, Backblaze continues to report a negative net margin and negative return on equity. Investors may also focus on whether the company can sustain its accelerated growth while converting that momentum into consistent GAAP profitability.

About Backblaze

Backblaze, Inc provides cloud storage and data backup services for businesses, developers and individual users. The company’s offerings are designed to help customers protect, store, manage and access data without maintaining their own extensive storage infrastructure.

Its primary products include Backblaze Computer Backup, a subscription service that automatically backs up data from computers, and Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, an object-storage platform used for applications such as backup, archiving, content storage and media workflows.