$Sea(SE.US) 3Q24 first take: At first glance, Sea has once again delivered a comprehensive performance report that exceeds expectations this quarter, specifically:

1) Overall, the group achieved a total revenue growth of 31% year-on-year, accelerating growth and exceeding expectations by 6%. The gross profit margin slightly increased year-on-year, and the profit amount exceeded expectations by 7.9%. The core profit guidance - adj. EBITDA exceeded expectations by 8.4%. All core indicators performed better than expected, with the magnitude of the beats increasing layer by layer. Growth acceleration and profit margin improvement coexist;

2) The most unexpected segment this quarter is the DFS financial business, with revenue exceeding expectations by nearly 13%. According to disclosures, the company's unrecovered loan balance this quarter reached $4.6 billion, a staggering year-on-year increase of 73% (the growth rate in the previous quarter was less than 40%). The company's lending scale has experienced explosive growth, driving revenue significantly above expectations.

3) In the core segment of Shopee's e-commerce business, GMV grew by 25% year-on-year, exceeding the expected growth rate by 3 percentage points. The revenue growth rate improved by 9 percentage points quarter-on-quarter, with a larger beat on expectations, reflecting a higher-than-expected monetization rate. Losses also narrowed to $37 million, less than expected. All indicators performed well;

4) Although the gaming business did not perform as brightly, the number of active users and paying users was slightly below expectations by 1% to 3%. However, the most critical quarterly revenue grew by 24.3% year-on-year, accelerating by about 3 percentage points compared to the previous quarter, also better than expected.