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Amazon is one of the market’s most notable stocks. The company pioneered e-commerce and cloud computing, and its successes led to a 278,000% return for investors over its 29-year trading history.
Fortunately, other companies have followed its lead in e-commerce in other regions of the world, and they have become conglomerates by succeeding in other industries.
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Sea Limited(NYSE: SE) has become this kind of company in Southeast Asia. Given its smaller size and its focus on a fast-growing, developing region, this company could offer investors a second chance at Amazon-like growth. Here’s how.
The market positioning of Sea Limited
Unlike Amazon, Sea began its history as a gaming company called Garena. However, founder and CEO Forrest Li saw an opportunity for e-commerce in Southeast Asia and formed Shopee, now Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce company. While it didn’t exactly follow Amazon’s growth strategy, Shopee invested in logistics and sold ads on its site, much like its North American counterpart.
Moreover, Shopee had an issue that Amazon did not: shoppers who deal primarily in cash. Thus, instead of going into cloud computing, Sea formed fintech company Monee to serve these customers and offer digital financial services.
At a $2.9 trillion market cap, Amazon is nearly 40 times the size of Sea Limited, with a market cap of around $75 billion. That difference gives investors an idea of Sea’s possible growth.
Additionally, Sea Limited’s seven Southeast Asian markets have a population of around 645 million, far above the U.S.’s 349 million. Although it operates primarily in developing countries with lower incomes than the U.S., Shopee markets such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines have reported 5% to 7% yearly economic growth, well above the U.S. at around 2%.
Not surprisingly, Sea Limited’s stock rocketed higher amid such conditions after releasing its earnings report for the second quarter of 2026. Revenue grew by 48% annually in Q2 to $7.8 billion. Garena, the only segment to operate worldwide, increased revenue by 34% over that period. Also, Shopee’s revenue rose 49%, while Monee reported a 59% yearly increase.
