Sea Limited is the MercadoLibre of Southeast Asia: same marketplace plus fintech, all three businesses already profitable but its trading roughly half MELI's multiple and 40% down its high
u/miguel_equivara ·
Reddit — r/ValueInvesting
· July 30, 2026 at 15:22
· ⬆ 15 pts
· 💬 7 comments
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Summary
Author argues Sea Limited (SE) is the MercadoLibre of Southeast Asia, combining e-commerce, fintech, and gaming.
Thesis highlights profitability turnaround: FCF from -$1.9B (2022) to +$4.4B (2025), net profit positive, and revenue still growing ~47%.
Valuations look cheap: SE trades ~11x forward EV/EBITDA vs MELI ~21x, with PEG near 0.4 and stock ~40% below its September 2025 high.
Quality assessment: Well-researched DD with specific financials, segment breakdowns, and relative valuation; slight promotional tone due to Substack link.
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▶ Full Post Text
Sea Limited is running the same engine as MercadoLibre, an ecommerce plus a fintech business but in Southeast Asia instead of Latam. All three of its businesses are already profitable, and the stock is about 40% down its high in September 2025
The financials have turned around in the last 3 years from 2022 to 2025:
\* FCF went from -$1.9B in 2022 to +$4.4B in 2025
\* Net profit from a $1.65B loss to $1.58B in profit
They're profitable and they're still growing revenue at an impressive +47% growth rate.
A deeper look into the business shows that each one of Sea Limited three three business, is doing a different job:
* **Shopee is the revenue:** In the last quarter reached a GMV record of $37.3B growing +30% YoY while the take rate raised to 13.7%.
* **Monee is the margin:** a $9.9B credit book at a healthy 1.1% 90-day NPL, and generating $275M of EBITDA, growing even faster than GrabFin it's closest competitor in the Southeast Asian region.
* **Garena is the cash:** The cash machine that funds the other two so Shopee can run its margin low on purpose to compete with TiktokShop and MercadoLibre in Brazil. Garena runs an impressive 61.6% margin, that is $574M of EBITDA.
However Sea Limited is trading at a forward EV/EBITDA around 11x (roughly half the MercadoLibre's multiple of 21x) and a PEG near 0.4.
My full investment thesis on Substack for free:
[https://equivara.substack.com/p/sea-limited-a-profitable-marketplace?r=8g3sj2](https://equivara.substack.com/p/sea-limited-a-profitable-marketplace?r=8g3sj2)
Same engine as MELI at half the multiple on a different region why is Sea Limited cheap?
Sea Limited’s FCF swung from -$1.9B to +$4.4B, net income turned positive, and revenue growth is ~47% while the stock is down 40% from highs. This combination of improving profitability, continued growth, and a ~11x forward EV/EBITDA vs MELI’s ~21x suggests a rerating opportunity if the market recognizes the comparable business quality. Position for long-term value convergence as Shopee scales, Monee expands fintech income, and Garena continues funding growth. Competitive pressure from TikTok Shop and MercadoLibre in Brazil could hurt margins; credit quality in Monee could deteriorate; Southeast Asia growth could slow. No other actionable trade ideas explicitly stated in the post.
This Reddit post, published July 30, 2026,
features u/miguel_equivara
discussing SE.
1 trade idea extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.