What happened
Shares of Sea Limited (NYSE: SE) were climbing again today, riding the bullish wave in the market even as there was no company-specific news out on the stock. This time, the Southeast Asian tech giant seemed to benefit from another strong earnings report from an e-commerce stock, this time from Wayfair, and a fawning write-up in Bloomberg touting the stock as the best-performing large-cap play in the world in the last 18 months.
As a result, the stock finished up 5.8%.
Image source: Sea Limited.
So what
The Bloomberg article claimed Sea to be the world's best-performing large-cap stock, saying it had risen 880% in the last 18 months and emerged as a regional powerhouse that could be the next Alibaba or Tencent with strength in digital gaming, e-commerce, and online payments. Shares of the stock also seem to have climbed since June due to a short squeeze, as bearish investors have bet against the stock only to come back in and cover their bets at a loss as Sea continues to gain, hitting an all-time high. According to Bloomberg, the percentage of the stock sold short has since declined to 8%.
Meanwhile, the e-commerce rally continued on the market today as Wayfair gained 3.6% after it said its revenue jumped 84% in the second quarter to $4.3 billion. Sea Limited shares have been rallying since last week when Shopify and Amazon both reported blowout earnings, and investors are looking forward to Sea's second-quarter report on Aug. 18.
Now what
After hours, Etsy added to the e-commerce hit parade, reporting that sales more than doubled in the second quarter.
With Sea Limited shares now up 261% year to date, it's worth asking how much higher the stock deserves to go. But it's clear that the company has enormous potential, with stakes in several emerging tech industries. We'll learn more when the company reports earnings later this month.
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Jeremy Bowman owns shares of Sea Limited. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Sea Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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