Backblaze Q2 Earnings Call Highlights
Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) reported Q2 progress toward higher-value customers, ending the quarter with 235 customers generating over $50,000 in ARR, up 57% year over year. It added about $320 million in remaining performance obligations, including $313 million tied to the CoreWeave deal. Gross margin was 63%, and full-year 2026 revenue guidance rose to $172 million to $174 million.
How this was made
The 30-second read
Why it matters
The CoreWeave contract adds substantial remaining performance obligations and visibility into 2026-2027 ramp, while management also signaled higher capex and possible short-term gross-margin pressure.
Market read
Traders can update models for BLZE using raised revenue and EBITDA margin guidance, CoreWeave-related remaining obligations, and the stated capex ramp and margin timing.
What to watch
Temporary gross-margin decline from depreciation before customer capacity ramps could pressure the stock even with higher revenue guidance, especially if investors focus on near-term FCF margin rather than ARR growth.
Background
Backblaze discussed Q2 performance, go-to-market expansion, and a CoreWeave agreement combining platform use with managed storage on customer-owned hardware.
Ticker impact
Backblaze raised full-year 2026 revenue to $172M-$174M and adjusted EBITDA margin to 27%-29% after adding $313M of CoreWeave remaining obligations.
Bias higher into the next earnings window, with volatility around capex and gross-margin recovery assumptions.
The article discloses multiple fresh, decision-relevant datapoints: raised revenue and EBITDA margin guidance, new remaining performance obligations tied to CoreWeave, and explicit capex and potential temporary gross-margin decline.
Market effects
Reinforces demand for hard-drive-based and managed storage models in AI infrastructure, potentially supporting sentiment for storage/cloud infrastructure peers.
No specific regional demand signal beyond US and international operations.
AI infrastructure capacity buildout narrative may resonate with global data-center and storage supply chains.
Counterpoint
Raised guidance may already reflect contracted minimum commitments, so upside could be limited if variable usage and larger-than-$500k deals do not materialize.
Key entities
- companyBackblaze
Storage cloud platform provider; reported Q2 metrics and raised 2026 guidance tied to CoreWeave contracted demand.
- customerCoreWeave
AI cloud infrastructure customer; agreement drives $313M of remaining performance obligations and multi-exabyte commitment.
