Company Overview

Sea Limited is a Singapore-based company that most U.S. investors know only by its ticker. It runs three businesses: Shopee, the largest e-commerce marketplace in Southeast Asia, with a growing presence in Taiwan and Brazil; Monee, a digital payments and lending business formerly called SeaMoney; and Garena, the gaming company behind Free Fire and Arena of Valor.

Tuesday morning, Sea reported third-quarter 2026 results before the open. Revenue was $8.6 billion, up 43.4% from a year earlier and well above the roughly $8.08 billion analysts expected. Adjusted EBITDA rose 28.9% to $931.3 million. Net income rose about 34%. But earnings per share were $0.78, short of the $0.97 consensus, and shares fell about 6.3% in premarket trading.

The gap between the strong operating results and the EPS miss comes down to costs that are growing alongside the business, especially credit-loss provisions in Monee. The same pattern appeared in the second quarter, when revenue grew 48% but net income rose only about 11%. Management also announced an additional $1 billion share buyback, plans to list Monee separately within one to three years, and a new AI-focused Sea Cloud business.

Key Technical and Fundamental Drivers

Revenue Beat, EPS Miss → Growth Is Running Ahead of Profit
Revenue of $8.58 billion beat consensus by about 6%, and adjusted EBITDA rose 28.9% to $931.3 million. EPS of $0.78 fell short of the $0.97 estimate. The business is growing faster than its bottom line, which is what investors are reacting to, and the key question is whether margins catch up as the businesses scale.

Shopee’s Most Profitable Quarter → GMV Up 23%, EBITDA Up 45%
Shopee’s gross merchandise value rose 23.3% to $39.7 billion (about 26.5% excluding currency effects), gross orders rose about 25% to 4.5 billion, and revenue grew 41.3% to $6.07 billion. Adjusted EBITDA rose 44.7% to a record $269.2 million. Because revenue grew faster than GMV, Shopee is earning more from each transaction. Management said the company remains on track for roughly 25% GMV growth and $1 billion in adjusted EBITDA for the full year, and said it does not see a big slowdown in GMV growth yet.

Monee → Revenue Up 64%, Loan Book at $12.6 Billion
Monee revenue grew about 63.9% to $1.6 billion, and adjusted EBITDA rose 15.5% to $298.3 million, now larger than Shopee’s in absolute terms. The loan book reached $12.6 billion ($11.2 billion on the balance sheet, $1.3 billion off), roughly 60% above a year earlier, with nearly 44 million active credit users. Management said it has reached the scale to stand on its own and plans a separate listing within one to three years.

Credit Quality → The Number the Market Is Watching
The share of loans more than 90 days past due rose to 1.3%, up from 1.0% in the second quarter and 1.1% a year ago. Credit-loss provisions have also been rising faster than group revenue. A loan book growing around 60% with a rising delinquency ratio is the main reason the market is not rewarding the strong top line. It is the one metric that could change the story if it keeps rising.

Garena Slows, Cash Returns Rise → Bookings Up 5.9%, New $1 Billion Buyback
Garena bookings rose 5.9% to $890 million, a sharp slowdown from the 15% growth reported in the second quarter, and quarterly active users were flat at 671.7 million, though revenue rose 28.6% to $840.1 million and adjusted EBITDA was $458.2 million. The board authorized an additional $1 billion in share repurchases, and recent estimates had the stock trading at roughly 18 to 19 times forward earnings.

Market Takeaway

Sea’s quarter is a “beat but fell” setup with real substance on both sides. The positive case is a company growing revenue 43%, with Shopee at record profit, a new buyback, and a possible Monee listing that could make its lending business easier to value. The negative case is that earnings per share missed by about 20%, credit quality slipped, and Garena is slowing.

The risks are specific. Monee’s delinquency rate and provisions are the central issue: a lending book growing this fast can look healthy until conditions change, and the rising 90-day ratio is an early signal worth watching. Garena’s slowdown from 15% to under 6% bookings growth removes one of the pillars of earnings growth. Currency matters, since Shopee’s reported GMV growth of 23% was about 3 points lower than the constant-currency rate. A Monee listing and the new Sea Cloud business add complexity and spending before they add value, and options had priced a move of roughly 10% either way going into the report, so the stock is clearly not a quiet one. For readers watching Wednesday’s session, Sea is a test of whether the market will look past an earnings miss to a business growing this fast, or keep punishing it until the credit numbers stop rising.