'Little Tencent' Sea 2Q26 First Take: Results remained solid. Core KPIs across the three segments — GMV, loan book, and game bookings — modestly beat estimates, underscoring healthy growth momentum.
Revenue came in over 10% above expectations, reflecting sustained monetization gains. The market-focused e-com margin continued to surprise to the upside, up 0.7ppt QoQ on a GMV basis.
In detail. Key points:
1) E-com: GMV grew 28.5% YoY vs. 26% est. It looks slightly slower QoQ, but the base this quarter was materially higher, so momentum remains strong.
More notably, e-com revenue rose 48% YoY, accelerating by 3ppt QoQ.Implied 3P take rate increased by ~0.8ppt QoQ (the strongest single-quarter gain in ~4 years), signaling stronger monetization. Consequently, e-com GPM expanded by 1.2ppt QoQ.At the same time, investment remains aggressive, with opex up ~49% YoY, outpacing revenue growth and clearly accelerating QoQ. Management is still trading spend for growth.Fortunately, stronger take rate and GPM expansion more than offset, and margins still improved. Profitability trended up.2) Fin. services: The loan book grew 63% YoY this quarter, still decelerating QoQ but beating the 58% est. Growth remains robust despite the slowdown.
The blemish: the NPL proxy (loss provisions/loan book) worsened by 1.7ppt QoQ, pushing Adj. EBITDA margin lower this quarter. Rising credit risk in developing markets seems non-trivial.3) Games: While less spectacular than last quarter, performance remained solid. Bookings rose 15.5% YoY vs. 14% est.
With active users roughly flat YoY, paying users were up nearly 10% YoY, indicating improving stickiness and pay rate. Profit slightly beat as well.$Sea(SE.US)
