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As the Q4 earnings season comes to a close, it’s time to take stock of this quarter’s best and worst performers in the online marketplace industry, including Sea (NYSE:SE) and its peers.
Marketplaces have existed for centuries. Where once it was a main street in a small town or a mall in the suburbs, sellers benefitted from proximity to one another because they could draw customers by offering convenience and selection. Today, a myriad of online marketplaces fulfill that same role, aggregating large customer bases, which attracts commission-paying sellers, generating flywheel scale effects that feed back into further customer acquisition.
The 13 online marketplace stocks we track reported a mixed Q4. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 2.1% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was in line.
Amidst this news, share prices of the companies have had a rough stretch. On average, they are down 20.1% since the latest earnings results.
Sea (NYSE:SE)
Founded in 2009 and a publicly traded company since 2017, Sea (NYSE:SE) started as a gaming platform and has since expanded to offer a variety of services such as e-commerce, digital payments, and financial services across Southeast Asia.
Sea reported revenues of $4.95 billion, up 36.9% year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 6.1%. Overall, it was a strong quarter for the company with decent growth in its users and an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.
The stock is down 8.7% since reporting and currently trades at $120.84.
We think Sea is a good business, but is it a buy today? Read our full report here, it’s free.
Best Q4: MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI)
Originally started as an online auction platform, MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) is a one-stop e-commerce marketplace and fintech platform in Latin America.
MercadoLibre reported revenues of $6.06 billion, up 37.4% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 2.8%. The business had an exceptional quarter with an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates and a solid beat of analysts’ number of unique active users estimates.
The stock is down 1.1% since reporting. It currently trades at $2,095.
Is now the time to buy MercadoLibre? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.
Weakest Q4: Teladoc (NYSE:TDOC)
Founded to help people in rural areas get online medical consultations, Teladoc Health (NYSE:TDOC) is a telemedicine platform that facilitates remote doctor’s visits.
Teladoc reported revenues of $640.5 million, down 3% year on year, in line with analysts’ expectations. It was a softer quarter as it posted full-year EBITDA guidance missing analysts’ expectations.