On August 4, 2026, Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GRAB) raised its full-year revenue and profit forecasts. The company credited AI investments and an aggressive affordability push for helping it grow even as fuel prices rise across Southeast Asia. The stock jumped as much as 4.9% in extended trading. On the other hand, Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) hasn’t reported its own second-quarter results yet.
Why Cheaper Prices and AI Are Working Together
Grab has leaned hard into affordability this year. The firm is offering a budget “Saver” tier and spending heavily on incentives to keep both riders and drivers on the platform despite higher fuel costs. At the same time, the company says AI has made its operations meaningfully cheaper to run. CFO Peter Oey said AI has helped Grab ship products more than 30% faster and cut out nearly 40,000 hours of sales inefficiencies.
This makes you wonder: is Grab’s combination of low prices and AI-driven efficiency a genuinely durable edge in a brutally competitive market? Or is it mostly a short-term response to a fuel-price shock that could fade once oil prices ease?
Grab’s Bull Case
Revenue rose 22% to $997 million, beating the $990.8 million analysts expected, and net income jumped to $252 million from just $35 million a year earlier. Gross merchandise value rose 21% to $6.5 billion, and rides grew 28% year over year. Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GRAB) raised its full-year revenue guidance to $4.10 billion to $4.15 billion and its EBITDA guidance to $720 million to $740 million. The company also announced a new $750 million buyback. Oey said AI is “now embedded in the Grab way of life,” pointing to faster product shipping and real cost savings that are already showing up in margins.
Grab’s Bear Case
Grab spent $706 million on customer and partner incentives in just one quarter to keep prices low, a high, recurring cost of staying competitive. As of August 4, the stock is still down roughly 26% for the year and more than 50% since its 2021 debut, showing investors remain cautious even after this beat. Indonesia just cut the maximum commission. Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GRAB) can charge scooter riders up to 8% from roughly 20%, a real regulatory hit in one of its biggest markets. Competition keeps intensifying too, from GoTo Group, new entrants, and a possible Uber return to the region through its own Delivery Hero deal. Grab’s planned acquisition of Foodpanda’s Taiwan business is also still waiting on regulatory approval, now pushed back to October.
Sea Limited’s Bull and Bear Case
Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) hasn’t reported its own second-quarter results yet, but TD Cowen already lowered its price target to $100 from $108 on August 4. The firm forecasts sales of $7.09 billion, up 35% year over year but slightly below consensus. Sea’s e-commerce arm Shopee, which makes up more than two-thirds of Sea’s revenue, has been cutting jobs since June as part of a pivot toward AI, with some teams cut entirely and others reduced by 10% to 15%. CEO Forrest Li has said AI has “huge potential to positively transform” the business and previously told staff he sees a path for Sea to join the $1 trillion market-cap club if it can ride the AI wave.
But unlike Grab, which is already showing AI-driven margin gains in hard numbers this quarter, Sea’s AI bet is showing up mostly as job cuts right now. Not yet the kind of guidance raise Grab just delivered.
Insider Monkey’s Hedge Fund Data
Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database shows Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GRAB) had 50 hedge fund holders as of Q1 2026, down from 61 the quarter before. Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) had 86 holders, also down from 113 the quarter before.
Both stocks saw hedge funds pull back heading into this year, though Sea still draws considerably more hedge fund holders in absolute terms than Grab.
Conclusion
Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GRAB) just proved that affordability and AI can work together to grow revenue and profit at the same time, even during a regional fuel-price shock. Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) is betting on the same AI wave, but for now, that bet is showing up as layoffs at Shopee rather than the kind of results Grab already has in hand.
Overall, hedge funds favor Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) over Grab.
While we acknowledge the risk and potential of GRAB as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than GRAB and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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