6. Sea Limited (NYSE:SE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q4: 86
Think Investments’ Equity Stake: $35.58 Million
Sea Limited (NYSE:SE), a Singapore-based technology conglomerate, continues to strengthen its position across e-commerce, gaming, and digital financial services. The company first gained recognition for its successful game publishing business, particularly with Free Fire. Over the years, Sea Limited expanded its operations, launching Shopee as a dominant e-commerce platform and SeaMoney to provide digital financial services across Southeast Asia and beyond.
The company achieved remarkable growth in 2024, with all three of its core businesses, gaming, e-commerce, and digital finance, demonstrating double-digit growth. Also, 2024 was Sea Limited (NYSE:SE)’s second consecutive year of annual profitability, with each business segment delivering positive adjusted EBITDA. E-commerce was a key driver, with Shopee’s gross merchandise value (GMV) surging 28% year-over-year to surpass $100 billion. The platform also achieved adjusted EBITDA profitability in both Asia and Brazil, reinforcing its ability to balance growth with sustainable financial performance.
For the fourth quarter of 2024, Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) reported revenue of $5 billion, marking a 36.9% year-over-year increase. Gross profit rose by 44.6% to $2.2 billion, and the company posted a net income of $237.6 million, a significant upside from the $111.6 million net loss recorded in the same quarter of 2023. Adjusted EBITDA soared to $590.9 million, up from $126.7 million a year earlier. As of December 31, 2024, the company’s cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments, and other treasury holdings totaled $10.4 billion, reflecting a net increase of $478.6 million from the previous quarter.
With its diversified business model and continued focus on profitability, Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) remains well-positioned for sustained growth. Looking ahead to 2025, the company expects Shopee’s full-year GMV growth to be around 20%, with further improvements in profitability. As it continues to scale its operations across key markets, the company is set to maintain its momentum as one of Southeast Asia’s leading digital economy players.
SaltLight Capital stated the following regarding Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Sea Limited (NYSE:SE), which is focused on Southeast Asia, has the wildly successful Free Fire game franchise, first launched in 2017.
Free Fire has an astounding 648 million quarterly active users and 53 million paying players, spending an average of $42 a year8 . The company’s large user base is due to its game design being playable on lower-spec phones, which are more prevalent in emerging markets. Nevertheless, the business makes good money overall. Over the last twelve months, SEA Ltd made $1bn EBITDA with 50% margins. This is a phenomenal business that doesn’t require much capex to grow.
Our view is that the market has underappreciated the annuity-like nature of these evergreen game franchise businesses. Tencent, in particular, is valued at a multiple that doesn’t appreciate the nature of the game business…” (Click here to read the full text)
