Why Sea Stock Rose This Week

Shares of Sea Limited (NYSE: SE) were up 8% this week as of 10:30 a.m. ET on Friday, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Sea is home to leading e-commerce, digital financial services, and digital entertainment businesses in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Brazil. Earlier this week, it reported fourth-quarter earnings that blew analysts' sales expectations away, causing its shares to rise.

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Sea turns to the next chapter of its turnaround story

While Sea's earnings came in slightly below analysts' wishes, it reported its second consecutive profitable year and saw its margin profile improve tremendously. During Q4, Sea saw revenue grow 37%, gross profits balloon 45%, and its net income margin flip from -3% to 5%.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of Sea's Q4 report was the broad success it achieved across all three of its operating units.

Sea's e-commerce group, Shopee, became profitable in both Asia and Brazil. Its finance unit, SeaMoney, maintained steady profitability and increased revenue by a staggering 55%. Meanwhile, its cash cow Garena unit (Sea's digital entertainment division), grew quarterly active users and gross bookings by 17% and 19%, respectively.

Compared to Sea's turbulent year in 2023, which included layoffs, an unprofitable Shopee unit, and turmoil in its Garena operations after its most popular game, Free Fire, was banned in India, 2024 was an incredible turnaround.

A growing growth stock

Despite having similar sales growth rates to two somewhat similar peers in Shopify and MercadoLibre, Sea's forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 36 remains below its peers' respective marks of 42 and 67.

Powered by its market-leading Shopee and Garena units -- and an up-and-coming SeaMoney segment projected to grow faster than the other two -- Sea looks more like a growth stock than a turnaround story these days.

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Josh Kohn-Lindquist has positions in MercadoLibre, Sea Limited, and Shopify. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends MercadoLibre, Sea Limited, and Shopify. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.