Is SE a good stock to buy? We came across a bullish thesis on Sea Limited on Contrarian Perspectives’s Substack. In this article, we will summarize the bulls’ thesis on SE. Sea Limited’s share was trading at $89.34 as of April 20th. SE’s trailing and forward P/E were 35.45 and 30.03 respectively according to Yahoo Finance.
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Sea Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer internet company in Southeast Asia, Latin America, the rest of Asia, and internationally. SE’s fintech arm Monee is emerging as a core growth driver, with its credit business entering a rapid expansion phase following a key inflection point in 2H24. Initially built to support Shopee by improving payment efficiency and reducing cash-on-delivery reliance, Monee has evolved into a broader financial ecosystem focused on consumer credit.
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Its offerings—including SPayLater (BNPL), cash loans, and payment solutions—are increasingly driving higher conversion rates and user engagement across Shopee, while expanding beyond the platform into off-Shopee use cases. Consumer loans now represent over 95% of the portfolio, with off-platform lending growing faster and addressing a significantly larger market opportunity.
Growth is underpinned by a disciplined “land-and-expand” strategy, where users are onboarded via small-ticket BNPL products before graduating to larger, longer-tenure loans. Despite strong loan book growth, risk remains controlled, supported by improved AI-driven underwriting models, with 90-day NPLs stabilizing at ~1.1%.
The convergence of product cycles across geographies, alongside Shopee’s improved profitability, has enabled Monee to accelerate scaling while maintaining balance sheet flexibility. A key catalyst is the rapid rise of off-Shopee SPayLater, driven by integrations with national QR payment systems, unlocking exponential merchant acceptance and positioning it as a viable alternative to credit cards.
Looking ahead, Monee aims to evolve into a “digital life” super app via the standalone ShopeePay platform, integrating payments, credit, and lifestyle services. While still early, this strategy mirrors models like Alipay and positions Monee as a potential marketplace for financial services. Despite funding and macro risks, the business offers significant long-term optionality, with credit, distribution, and ecosystem synergies driving sustained growth.
Previously, we covered a bullish thesis on Sea Limited (SE) by Global Equity Briefing in May 2025, which highlighted the company’s integrated ecosystem across Shopee, Garena, and Monee, along with logistics scale and improving profitability. SE’s stock price has depreciated by approximately 45.54% since our coverage due to funding and macro risks. Contrarian Perspectives shares a similar view but emphasizes on Monee’s accelerating credit expansion, AI-driven underwriting, and its evolution into a digital financial services platform.
Sea Limited is on our list of the 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 113 hedge fund portfolios held SE at the end of the fourth quarter which was 102 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of SE 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 SE and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
Disclosure: None.
