The Southeast Asian technology conglomerate Sea has impressively demonstrated its performance in the fourth quarter of 2022. Following the presentation of the quarterly balance sheet, the stock of the ByteDance rival surged on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). With a price jump of 5.09 percent, it reached a peak of 53.65 US dollars - the highest value in more than six months.
In the fourth quarter, Sea was able to record a revenue of 3.61 billion US dollars, thus exceeding market expectations. Analysts had previously forecasted revenues of 3.57 billion US dollars, following 3.45 billion dollars generated in the previous year. Therefore, Sea has managed to surpass revenue forecasts in five out of eight quarters.
The adjusted EBITDA for the reporting period significantly exceeded market estimates. With a value of 126.7 million US dollars, it was well above the expected 28.5 million US dollars. Compared to the previous year, however, this represented a massive profit slump of 74 percent. The earnings per share came in below market expectations at -0.19 US dollars.
Experts of the scene still consider this a success: For the first time, Sea has achieved a profit in a twelve-month period. The EBITDA stood at 1.18 million US dollars - in the year 2022, the company had still reported a loss of 878.13 million US dollars. The earnings per share increased from -2.96 US dollars in the previous year to 0.25 US dollars.
Sea Chairman and CEO Forrest Li expressed enthusiasm about the figures: "In 2023, we have achieved profitability, we have strengthened our market leadership in the e-commerce sector, and expanded our digital finance services. The service business has been reinforced and the performance of our digital entertainment business has been stabilized."
Sea Remains Optimistic for the Current Fiscal Year, Aiming for Profitability Once Again. However, the Company Faces Increasing Competition from TikTok Owner ByteDance. This has Recently Put Pressure on Sea's Stock: In December, the Announcement of TikTok’s Billion-Dollar Investment into GoTo’s Tokopedia to Strengthen the Indonesian E-Commerce Business Caused Sea's Share Price to Plummet Significantly. TikTok Invested 1.5 Billion US Dollars in GoTo, Securing a 75 Percent Stake in Tokopedia, One of the Major Competitors of Sea's E-Commerce App Shopee.
