Backblaze just delivered the most consequential earnings print in its short public life. The stock surged 71% in a single session on May 5. Now the lending market is catching up — fast.
The cost to borrow BLZE stood at 1.38% as recently as May 1. By May 6 it had hit 12.61% APR — an 819% jump in one week. A month ago it was 0.66%. That is a 1,786% move in 30 days.
This kind of repricing happens when demand for borrows spikes faster than new supply enters the lending pool. Short sellers chasing the stock back down after a violent gap-up are competing for a finite inventory. Availability has tightened sharply as a result — the lending market for BLZE is now the tightest it has been in at least a year, with current availability at its 52-week low.
Short interest didn't retreat after the earnings jump. It accelerated. Shares short rose 85% in one week to reach 4.5% of free float as of May 6 — up from 2.5% the prior week. That is a meaningful level. In absolute terms, roughly 2.59 million shares are now on loan.
The ORTEX short score climbed to 45.3 on May 6, up from 32.2 just two days earlier on May 4. That is the highest reading in the trailing 10-day window. Short sellers are clearly pressing the position, betting the post-earnings move has overshot.
The put/call ratio hit 0.23 on May 6 — a PCR z-score of 2.2, meaning call-side demand is more than two standard deviations above its 20-day mean. The 20-day average PCR had been running at 0.12. This spike reflects aggressive call-buying, likely a mix of momentum traders and short sellers hedging their new borrow positions.
The 52-week PCR range runs from 0.013 to 1.18. At 0.23, options sentiment is deeply call-skewed — not at an extreme of complacency, but firmly bullish relative to recent history.
Three analyst actions followed the earnings release on May 5. Lake Street raised its target from $8 to $11 (maintaining Buy). Needham lifted its target from $6 to $8.50 (maintaining Buy). Citizens reiterated Market Outperform at $8. The consensus mean target now sits at $9.34 against a closing price of $7.40 — implying roughly 26% upside to the average.
The bull case rests on BLZE's neocloud positioning and improving profitability. Bears point to execution risk, macro pressure, and the relatively small scale of the business.
What to watch: Whether the borrow rate stabilises or continues climbing will indicate how aggressively shorts are adding. A sustained CTB above 10% with short interest still building would mark a rare convergence of bearish conviction against a stock with strong analyst support.
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