Since the Singapore technology giant Sea Ltd., known as the "little Tencent" of Southeast Asia, announced strong financial results earlier this month, several investment banks on Wall Street have raised their target prices for Sea, and Sea's stock price has continued to rise.

Year-to-date, $Sea (SE.US)$ the stock price has accumulated a nearly 200% increase, and the company's market cap has skyrocketed by about $43 billion within a year, surpassing $60 billion.

Sea's strong performance has garnered favor from Wall Street.

Sea was founded by Li Xiaodong in 2009 in Singapore and has three major business sectors: the e-commerce platform Shopee, the game platform Garena, and the digital financial business SeaMoney. Because its business sectors are similar to Tencent, which was its largest shareholder in its early years, this company is jokingly referred to as the "little Tencent" of Southeast Asia by many investors.

Earlier this month, Sea's financial report showed that the company's revenue for the third quarter of this year increased by 30.8% to reach 4.33 billion USD, exceeding analysts' expectations of 4.08 billion USD. SEA's third quarter net income was 0.153 billion USD, compared to a net loss of 0.144 billion USD in the same period last year; earnings per share (EPS) were 0.24 USD, matching analysts' expectations.

Among Sea's three major businesses, e-commerce revenue grew by 42.6% to reach 3.18 billion USD; digital entertainment (gaming) revenue was 0.4978 billion USD; and fintech service revenue was 0.6157 billion USD, all exceeding expectations.

Since the release of this strong financial report, at least seven Wall Street investment banks, including morgan stanley and deutsche bank, have raised their target price for Sea's ADR. The market generally believes that Sea's ADR will increase by at least another 7% over the next 12 months.

Analysts expect that Sea's adjusted net income this year is likely to increase nearly twofold year-on-year, and continue to grow at a similar rate in 2025.

morgan stanley analyst Divya Gangahar Kothiyal wrote in a report: "Sea's performance in the ASEAN market is solid, and profit growth has improved."

She noted that Sea maintains a dominant position in the competitive landscape of e-commerce in Southeast Asia, while also experiencing growth in the Brazilian market. In addition, Sea has gained a boost from its live streaming business and received higher merchant commissions.

Sea's market cap has doubled this year.

Since the beginning of this year, Sea's ADR has increased by 200%, significantly outperforming the MSCI Singapore index, which is mainly composed of local stocks. Wall Street analysts clearly recognize Sea's performance, with the average target price for Sea rising by 21% since the earnings report was released at the beginning of the month.

Analyst Nathan Naidu wrote in the report: "With the recovery of Sea's game publishing business and the profit improvement of the e-commerce division Shopee, Sea's profits will further expand."

He added that catalysts for Sea's future stock price increase include game cooperation with Tencent, growth in Sea's internal e-commerce logistics business, and development in the fintech sector.

In addition, concerns from the outside regarding Sea's gaming business have eased somewhat. Previously, there were worries about Sea's over-reliance on its popular game "Free Fire," which was released as early as 2017.

Deutsche Bank analyst Peter Milliken wrote in the report that the popularity of Free Fire has at least experienced a temporary "recovery," while the company's management also emphasized the progress of new games during the earnings call.

Milliken noted: "Sea is focusing on both holding or expanding market share and profitability, and this effort continues to succeed... Most importantly, Sea is no longer a gaming company that funds other businesses, but a company with three profitable sectors."

Editor/Rocky