We recently published a list of 11 Best Performing Large Cap Stocks So Far in 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) stands against other best performing large cap stocks so far in 2025.
The stock market had a chaotic start to the first quarter of 2025. The uncertain tariff policy, growing fears of a recession, and inflation sent the stock market to the worst quarterly performance since the 2022 bear market. On March 31, ClearBridge Investment released its commentary on the market performance. Portfolio Managers Erica Furfaro and Margaret Vitrano highlighted that the S&P 500 index declined 4.27%, whereas the growth-heavy NASDAQ and Russell 1000 Growth Index fell 10.42% and 9.97%, respectively.
Elaborating more on the quarterly market performance, the portfolio managers noted that the Russell Growth Index underperformed the Russell Value Index by more than 1,200 basis points indicating that while large-cap stocks were impacted, the growth sector took the major hit. Tariffs were only one of the headwinds affecting the performance and the overall backdrop also includes the launch of Chinese LLM DeepSeek which questioned the AI capital expenditure of various large and mega-cap stocks. This capital expenditure bubble infected the performance of other “Magnificent Seven” to an extent that only one of the “Mag Seven” companies could outperform the Russell 1000 Index.
Erica Furfaro and Margaret Vitrano noted that their Large Cap Growth ESG strategy performed better than the benchmark amidst all the uncertainty. Their strategy takes the Russell Growth Index as a benchmark. The managers noted that the strategy revolved around being underweight for the Mag Seven and the IT sector. They also highlighted that balancing the portfolio with strong stocks across IT, communication, and financial services also played a pivotal role in generating more relative returns.
The investment fund also noted moving towards a “moving to the middle” approach, which refers to adjusting their portfolio to be less concentrated in any single sector and more balanced across different types of growth companies. Clearbridge has reduced its overweight position in healthcare and increased exposure to the IT sector, which was previously underweight. The fund believes this recalibration positions the portfolio for an economic slowdown. Lastly, Erica Furfaro and Margaret Vitrano noted that the first quarter witnessed the earnings growth broaden away from the Mag Seven and other large-cap stocks outside the big tech names delivered better earnings. They anticipate that, unless there is a recession, earnings growth from industrial and healthcare companies will begin to catch up with the technology sector in 2025.
Our Methodology
To curate the list of 11 best-performing large-cap stocks so far in 2025, we used the Finviz stock screener and Yahoo Finance. Using the screener we aggregate a list of large-cap stocks that have performed well on a year-to-date. Next, we cross-checked the performance from Yahoo Finance and ranked the stocks in ascending order of their year-to-date performance. We have also added the market capitalization of each stock and the hedge fund sentiment as well, as of Q4 2024. Please note that the data was recorded on May 2, 2025.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A technician installing hardware in a modern server room, highlighting the company’s focus on on-premise environments.
Sea Limited (NYSE:SE)
Market Capitalization: $84.091B
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 86
Year-To-Date Performance: 35.63%
Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) is a leading internet and technology company based in Singapore. It operates through three main business segments including Digital Entertainment, E-commerce, and Digital Financial Services. On April 25, Bank of America Securities analyst Sachin Salgaonkar maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a price target of $160.
The analyst likes the growth potential and competitive edge of Sea Limited (NYSE:SE). He noted that despite the challenges, the company’s E-Commerce segment is anticipated to grow its GMV by 20% during the year. Moreover, the segments’ focus on growing its logistics and live streaming is a significant edge. Salgaonkar noted that Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) has shown better conversion rates via live streaming. Considering these factors, the analyst anticipates that the company will achieve 2% to 3% EBITDA margins.
During fiscal 2024, the company grew its GMV by 28% year-over-year to reach $100 billion. Moreover, management also noted that they achieved adjusted EBITDA profitability for its operations in Brazil and Asia. Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) is one of the best-performing large-cap stocks so far in 2025.
Lakehouse Global Growth Fund stated the following regarding Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) in its March 2025 investor letter:
“Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) delivered an impressive result with a healthy combination of strong growth and improving profitability. Revenue grew 37% to $5.0 billion – the fastest growth in nearly three years – and adjusted EBITDA grew 366% to $591 million. The company’s core e-commerce business, Shopee, continued to extend its leadership across key markets, namely Indonesia and Thailand, with overall Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) increasing 28% to $28.6 billion. Shopee’s marketplace take rate also improved 160 bps year on-year to 12.8%, driven by higher commissions and increased ad adoption. Importantly, recent fee hikes haven’t slowed GMV growth, which is a testament to Shopee’s pricing power driven by the value it creates for sellers.”
Overall, SE ranks 9th on our list of best performing large cap stocks so far in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of SE to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than SE but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
