What happened
Shares of Sea Limited (SE 0.05%) were moving higher today after the Southeast Asian digital tech company posted another strong earnings report in its fourth quarter.
As of 12:22 p.m. EST, the stock was up 3.7%.
Image source: Sea Limited.
So what
Sea, which operates as a digital gaming, e-commerce, and digital payments company in Southeast Asia, has been one of the biggest winners during the pandemic as all three of its core businesses have benefited from the crisis.
The company posted another round of blowout results in the fourth quarter as revenue jumped 101.6% to $1.57 billion. In digital entertainment, revenue was up 71.6% to $693.4 million as Free Fire was once again the highest-grossing mobile game in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and India.
In e-commerce, revenue surged 178.3% to $842.2 million on strong growth in both its marketplace and first-party sales, and gross merchandise volume rose 112.5% to $11.9 billion, showing the company is rapidly gaining scale as a major online retailer. Shopee, its e-commerce business, was the third-most downloaded shopping app globally last year.
The company also announced the launch of Sea Capital, a new platform to manage its overall investment efforts and to partner directly with entrepreneurs. It also announced the formation of Sea AI Labs, a new project with the goal of advancing technology in the digital economy across its regions.
On the bottom line, adjusted EBITDA improved from a loss of $104.9 million in the quarter a year ago to $48.7 million, as its gaming business is highly profitable but its e-commerce segment continues to burn cash.
Now what
Looking ahead, Sea sees another strong year in 2021 even as it laps the impact of the pandemic. The company is calling for bookings in digital entertainment of $4.3 billion to $4.5 billion, representing 38% growth at the midpoint, and in e-commerce, it expects 112% growth of $4.5 billion to $4.7 billion.
Considering that forecast and the launch of Sea Capital and Sea AI Labs, as well as the emergence of its digital wallet, SeaMoney, the future continues to look bright for the budding tech giant.
