Backblaze secured a five-year, $335 million multi-exabyte storage deal with CoreWeave, validating its AI infrastructure positioning. Following the announcement, Craig Hallum upgraded the stock to Buy with a $16 target, William Blair raised its rating to Market Perform, and Citizens lifted its price target to $14, driving shares up 43%.
Backblaze signed a five-year, $335 million deal to provide multi-exabyte storage capacity for CoreWeave's AI Object Storage, leveraging HDD-based tiers to support managed storage infrastructure. This contract positions Backblaze as a key partner for neocloud providers seeking cost-efficient AI infrastructure solutions.
Following the agreement, Craig Hallum upgraded the stock to Buy and raised its price target to $16, William Blair shifted its rating to Market Perform, and Citizens increased its target from $8 to $14, highlighting the deal's impact on future estimates and AI defensibility.
Backblaze shares surged 43% in a single session to an intraday peak of $11.85, marking the best daily gain since early May and the strongest performance since March 2024, then closed at $11.66 and added 2.9% in premarket trading.
Retail investor chatter about Backblaze jumped 18,900% within 24 hours, reflecting heightened attention from individual investors following the CoreWeave announcement and analyst target increases.
