Quick Overview
- Sea Limited (SE) shares jumped 5.4% following Q1 revenue of $7.1B, significantly exceeding the $6.45B Wall Street forecast
- Adjusted earnings per share reached $0.67, falling short of the $0.76 analyst projection
- Shopee achieved record-breaking GMV of $37.3B, representing a 30.2% year-over-year increase
- Garena delivered its strongest performance since 2021, with bookings climbing 20.1% to $931.4M
- Monee saw revenue jump 57.8% to $1.2B, while its loan portfolio expanded 71.3% YoY
Sea Limited (SE) unveiled its first-quarter 2026 financial results on May 12, triggering a 5.4% surge in its share price despite falling short on earnings expectations. Investors focused primarily on the company’s revenue performance, which significantly exceeded analyst projections.
The Singapore-based technology conglomerate reported quarterly revenue of $7.1 billion, comfortably surpassing the Street’s $6.45 billion estimate. This represents a substantial 46.6% increase compared to the $4.8 billion generated during the same period last year. However, adjusted earnings per share of $0.67 missed the consensus target of $0.76 by nine cents.
The company’s net income increased 6.7% to $438.2 million for the quarter. Meanwhile, total adjusted EBITDA posted 9.3% year-over-year growth, reaching $1.0 billion.
Forrest Li, the company’s CEO, emphasized that Sea Limited is strategically increasing investments to strengthen its competitive advantages while maintaining rigorous financial oversight.
Shopee Achieves Unprecedented GMV Milestone
The e-commerce division, Shopee, posted an exceptional quarter with record-breaking results. The platform’s gross merchandise value surged to $37.3 billion, marking a 30.2% year-over-year expansion. Segment revenue increased 44.4% to $4.5 billion.
Core marketplace revenue—encompassing transaction fees and advertising income—soared 61.0% to $3.8 billion. This metric serves as a critical indicator of the platform’s long-term revenue potential and monetization capabilities.
Shopee’s adjusted EBITDA decreased to $223.2 million from $264.4 million in the prior-year quarter. Management explained this decline resulted from strategic investment initiatives. The company reaffirmed its guidance for approximately 25% annual GMV growth throughout 2026.
The platform processed 4.0 billion gross orders during the quarter, up 29.3% from the previous year. Li highlighted the quarter as record-breaking across multiple dimensions including GMV, order volume, and total revenue.
Garena Stages Impressive Comeback
The gaming division, Garena, demonstrated remarkable momentum with its strongest quarterly performance in three years. Bookings increased 20.1% to $931.4 million, while revenue surged 40.6% to $696.6 million.
Garena’s adjusted EBITDA grew 25.2% to $573.6 million. The division’s EBITDA margin expanded to 61.6% of bookings, compared to 59.1% during the first quarter of 2025.
Free Fire remained the division’s flagship title, while Arena of Valor achieved record-level contributions. Quarterly active users totaled 666.5 million, essentially unchanged year-over-year, though paying users expanded 12.4% to 72.6 million.
The digital financial services division, Monee, maintained strong momentum with revenue advancing 57.8% to $1.2 billion and adjusted EBITDA climbing 14% to $275.2 million. The consumer and SME loan portfolio reached $9.9 billion, reflecting 71.3% year-over-year expansion.
Non-performing loans remained stable at 1.1% of the total loan book, a key metric management monitors carefully as lending operations scale.
Throughout the first quarter, Sea Limited executed $168.4 million in share repurchases, buying back 1.8 million shares as part of its $1.0 billion stock buyback initiative.
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