What happened

Shares of Sea Limited (SE -1.84%) gained as much as 5% this morning after the company reported third-quarter earnings. The stock has since given up those gains and is down 2% as of 1 p.m. EST.

So what

Revenue in the third quarter nearly doubled to $1.2 billion, but that was still shy of the $1.4 billion in sales that analysts  were expecting. That resulted in an adjusted net loss per share of $0.69, which was also worse than the $0.53 per share in adjusted losses that Wall Street was modeling for.

Spacious lobby at Sea headquarters.

Image source: Sea.

The technology company, which operates e-commerce platforms and publishes mobile games, reported strong growth as the COVID-19 pandemic boosted demand for both core segments. The digital entertainment business saw bookings jump 110%, while e-commerce revenue soared by 173%.

"We continued to see robust user growth and deepening of user engagement on each of our platforms during the quarter," CEO Forrest Li said  on the conference call with analysts. "We believe the accelerating shift to digitalization in our global markets is a sustaining trend."

Now what

Sea continues to make progress with its expansion into digital financial services, with mobile wallet payment volumes topping $2.1 billion during the quarter. The company is integrating its mobile wallet services with the Shopee e-commerce platform, which is boosting usage and engagement.

The company raised its guidance for the full year. Digital entertainment bookings for 2020 are now expected to top $3.1 billion, significantly above the prior forecast of $1.9 billion to $2 billion. E-commerce revenue should be greater than $2.3 billion compared to the previous outlook of $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion.