Sea Limited Q1 2026 Earnings: Revenue Beat, Shopee Momentum and Margin Concerns

The revenue result was meaningfully above the expectations available in the provided sources. AskTraders cited Yahoo Finance consensus at US$6.4 billion, Longbridge cited US$6.4555 billion, and FXEmpire cited US$6.61 billion for Q1 revenue. Against those figures, Sea’s reported US$7.1 billion was roughly US$0.5 billion to US$0.7 billion higher.

The EPS comparison is less clear from the supplied materials. Pre-report EPS estimates ranged from about US$0.70 to US$0.77 in several sources, but the Q1 release snippets provided here report net income rather than a confirmed Q1 EPS figure. That means a verified EPS beat or miss cannot be concluded from the provided evidence.

Shopee: record activity, but no supplied GMV dollar figure

Shopee remained the largest visible driver in Q1. Sea’s Q1 presentation showed Shopee GAAP revenue of US$5.1 billion, up 45.1% year over year and 2.8% quarter over quarter. Sea also said Shopee delivered new highs in GMV, gross order volume and revenue while maintaining financial discipline.

That is a strong directional update, but there is an important limitation: the supplied Q1 sources do not provide a specific Shopee GMV dollar amount for the quarter. So the most accurate reading is that Shopee reached a new GMV high, but the exact Q1 2026 GMV figure is not available from the provided source set.

The prior-year base was already large. Sea said that in 2025 Shopee served around 400 million active buyers and 20 million sellers. Separately, Sea’s 2025 materials indicated management was targeting about 25% Shopee GMV growth in 2026 while keeping adjusted EBITDA at least flat versus 2025 in absolute dollars. That guidance helps explain why investors may focus not only on GMV growth, but also on how much profit Shopee can generate while continuing to invest.

Garena: bookings rebounded sharply

Garena also contributed to the quarter. Sea’s Q1 presentation reported Garena bookings up 20.1% year over year and 38.5% quarter over quarter, with the presentation chart indicating Q1 2026 bookings of about US$931 million.

That sequential rebound matters because Garena is Sea’s digital entertainment business, and its bookings can be volatile compared with the steadier transaction flow of e-commerce and financial services. The Q1 data suggests Garena’s recovery carried into 2026 rather than fading after 2025, when Sea reported Garena bookings of US$2.9 billion and adjusted EBITDA of US$1.7 billion for the year.

Monee: loan growth stayed rapid

Monee, Sea’s digital financial services business, showed the fastest balance-sheet growth in the available segment metrics. Sea’s Q1 presentation showed Monee loans principal outstanding of US$9.9 billion, up 71.3% year over year and 7.5% quarter over quarter. The presentation notes that this figure includes consumer and small-business loans principal outstanding, including both on-book and off-book loans.

The growth extends a strong 2025, when Monee generated US$3.8 billion of revenue and US$1.0 billion of adjusted EBITDA, according to Sea’s reported 2025 figures cited in the supplied sources. Sea also said Monee gained more than 20 million unique first-time borrowers in 2025.

Rapid loan growth naturally keeps credit quality in focus. A Maybank note cited in the supplied sources said Monee’s BNPL penetration remained in the mid-teens and referenced 90-day non-performing loans at about 1.1%, but that is analyst context rather than a Q1 company-reported credit metric in the supplied earnings snippets.

Why investors may still worry

The central concern is profit conversion. Revenue increased 46.6%, but gross profit rose 40.7%, adjusted EBITDA rose 9.3%, and net income rose 6.7%. That gap suggests Sea is still spending heavily or absorbing margin pressure while pursuing growth.

Sea’s own language supports that interpretation. In the Q1 press release, management described 2026 as a year of leaning in to deepen competitive moats while maintaining financial discipline, and said unit economics were starting to improve for some investments. That framing is positive, but it also signals that investment spending remains part of the 2026 story.

The concern did not begin with Q1. Ahead of the report, AskTraders noted that Sea had missed earnings estimates in each of the previous four quarters and that Q4 2025 revenue beat expectations while GAAP EPS missed forecasts. Another supplied source framed the earlier Q4 EPS miss as raising concerns about future growth and profitability. For Q1 specifically, however, the supplied evidence does not confirm the post-earnings stock reaction or a reported EPS surprise.

Bottom line

Sea’s Q1 2026 report was strong on growth: revenue beat the available pre-report estimates, Shopee revenue rose sharply, Monee loans expanded rapidly, and Garena bookings improved year over year and sequentially. The quarter’s weak spot was not demand, but profitability quality. Net income and adjusted EBITDA grew far more slowly than revenue, so investors still have reason to watch margins, spending discipline and credit quality in the rest of 2026.