Oppenheimer analyst Ittai Kidron raised his price target on Backblaze to $25 from $15 while maintaining an ‘Outperform’ rating, saying B2 cloud storage revenue came in well ahead of expectations.
- Kidron attributed the strong quarter to rising AI demand, improving traction with larger enterprise customers and Backblaze's largest-ever deal with CoreWeave.
- Lake Street also raised its price target on Backblaze to $21 from $14 while maintaining a ‘Buy’ rating, saying revenue from the CoreWeave partnership is expected to build gradually through 2026.
- The firm expects the contract's minimum revenue commitments to "fully kick in" by mid-2027, prompting it to raise its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization estimates.
Shares of Backblaze Inc. (BLZE) soared in Tuesday’s opening trade, hitting their highest levels in about 55 months after the cloud storage company reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter (Q2) results.
Backblaze’s Q2 performance prompted Wall Street analysts to raise their price targets as AI demand and a record CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV) contract boosted growth.
Backblaze shares were up nearly 50% in Tuesday’s opening session.
BLZE’s CRWV Deal Impresses Wall Street
According to TheFly, Oppenheimer analyst Ittai Kidron raised his price target on Backblaze to $25 from $15 while maintaining an ‘Outperform’ rating, saying B2 cloud storage revenue came in well ahead of expectations.
The analyst attributed the strong quarter to rising AI demand, improving traction with larger enterprise customers and Backblaze's largest-ever deal with CoreWeave, alongside broader investment in next-generation cloud infrastructure.
Kidron said those factors underscore the company's positioning as AI infrastructure spending continues to expand, with the CoreWeave agreement serving as a key contributor to the quarter's outperformance.
Lake Street also raised its price target on Backblaze to $21 from $14 while maintaining a ‘Buy’ rating, saying revenue from the CoreWeave partnership is expected to build gradually through 2026 because of data transfer limits and the time required to onboard managed services.
The firm expects the contract's minimum revenue commitments to "fully kick in" by mid-2027, prompting it to raise its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) estimates for both 2026 and 2027. Lake Street said the phased ramp supports stronger profitability over the next two years as the CoreWeave relationship matures.
Citizens Sees Broad-Based Momentum
Citizens analyst Rustam Kanga also raised his price target on Backblaze to $21 from $16, while reiterating an ‘Outperform’ rating. The analyst pointed to the company's higher full-year outlook, citing broad-based business strength rather than a single growth driver.
According to Citizens, strong sales execution, resilient customer retention, growing AI-related demand and the CoreWeave contract support Backblaze's growth outlook, with the raised guidance reinforcing confidence in the company's momentum.
BLZE CEO Hails ‘Amazing Quarter’ On AI Momentum
Backblaze co-founder and CEO Gleb Budman called Q2 "an amazing quarter" after the company exceeded the high end of its revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance.
The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.08 on revenue of $42.7 million, while Wall Street expected an EPS of $0.02 on revenue of $39.9 million, according to Fiscal.ai data.
Backblaze stated that its B2 Cloud Storage revenue climbed 34% year-on-year to $26.6 million, driven by growing demand for AI and data-intensive workloads.
Budman highlighted the company's recently announced $335 million strategic agreement with CoreWeave as validation of Backblaze's role in the AI infrastructure stack, saying AI workloads require scalable, cost-effective storage where the company is “built to win.”
Backblaze also raised its full-year 2026 outlook, increasing its revenue forecast to $172 million-$174 million from $161.5 million-$163.5 million, compared to Wall Street estimates of $164.2 million.
What Retail Traders Think Of BLZE Stock
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around Backblaze trended in the ‘extremely bullish’ territory with message volumes at ‘extremely high’ levels.
BLZE stock is up 398% year-to-date and 349% over the past 12 months. The iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF (IWO) is up 31% over the past 12 months, while the iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC) is up 49%.
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