Sea Stock Jumps As Shopping Demand Boosts Profit

(Bloomberg) — Shares of Sea Ltd. jumped the most in more than a year-and-a-half after its e-commerce business reported its first profit on adjusted basis, a sign it’s holding its own against bigger Chinese rivals in Southeast Asian markets like Indonesia.

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The American depositary receipts climbed as much as 21%, the most since March 2023. The Singapore-based company reported net income for the company as a whole topped estimates at $153.3 million. Sales also rose a better-than-projected 31% to $4.3 billion in the three months through September.

The results alleviate some concerns about the prospects for online retail arm Shopee, which is trying to fend off competition from ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Lazada. The two Chinese companies have been implementing AI features including chatbots and other tools for sellers on their platforms, trying to erode Shopee’s dominance in the region’s e-commerce arena. Newer contenders like Shein and PDD Holdings Inc.’s Temu are also targeting Southeast Asia, a region of more than 675 million people where more shoppers are moving online.

Shopee’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization reached $34.4 million, following years of losses. Sea’s smaller but more profitable gaming unit Garena has supported the company’s finances as it’s built out its e-commerce operations.

The volatile e-commerce market is reflected in Sea’s share price, which has more than doubled in 2024 after plunging for two years. Once one of Asia’s hottest e-commerce players that lost some of its steam, the company is now trying to convince investors of its long-term earnings potential.

“As we continue to focus on delivering growth, we expect Shopee to remain profitable going forward,” Chief Executive Officer Forrest Li said in a statement.

Despite fierce competition, Sea has raised the commissions it charges merchants in many core markets by about a third since the start of the year. The hikes, which bring Shopee’s fees far above its rivals, show that Sea is confident it can attract and retain merchants, helped by the e-commerce pioneer’s broad user base and well established delivery services.

Sea’s e-commerce gross merchandise volume, or the value of goods sold, climbed a higher-than-estimated 25% to $25.1 billion in the third quarter. The company expects to reach a billion active users for e-commerce, Li said during a conference in Singapore last week, without specifying a time frame.

The earnings report “demonstrates operating efficiency and management execution towards balancing between growth and profitability,” Citigroup analyst Alicia Yap said in a note. Sea posted a “solid beat in e-commerce order volume and GMV growth.”

In September, Shopee struck a pact with Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube in Indonesia, betting the video platform will help it attract more shoppers and stay ahead of rivals in its biggest market.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says

Sea’s beats in consensus 3Q revenue and net profit estimates underscore its abilities — first-party logistics, live-streaming tie-up with YouTube — to defend its 50% e-commerce GMV share in its home base Southeast Asia from ByteDance’s TikTok Shop, PDD’s Temu and IPO-bound Shein. Rivalry could ease if Vietnam follow in Indonesia’s footsteps to ban Temu and other discount-driven web stores, potentially benefiting a segment that contributed to more than three-quarters of its 3Q’s Ebitda improvement.

-Nathan Naidu, analyst

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Beyond Southeast Asia, Shopee is gaining steam in its newer market Brazil. The number of average monthly active buyers there grew by close to 40% year-on-year last quarter, Li said on a conference call. That helped the company break even for the first time in that market too on adjusted Ebitda basis, he said.

(Updates with US share trading.)