It's no secret that U.S. investors tend to gravitate to domestic stocks. Despite the country's challenges, many of the world's innovation leaders are still in the United States. Also, with the S&P 500 back in bull market territory, shareholders may feel little incentive to change this approach.
However, such an attitude could lead investors to miss excellent opportunities abroad. Moreover, some international stocks have not significantly benefited from the new bull market. To this end, investors may want to take a closer look at two in particular, Sea Limited (NYSE: SE) and StoneCo (NASDAQ: STNE).
1. Sea Limited
Singapore-based Sea Limited often gets overlooked at the expense of its competitors. Despite the fact its e-commerce arm, Shopee, serves more than 600 million consumers in its home region, China's market of 1.4 billion often attracts more attention. Additionally, the dominance of Amazon or MercadoLibre often overshadows the e-commerce, fintech, and gaming giant in Southeast Asia.
Sea Limited prospered in the 2021 bull market. Still, a slowdown in e-commerce and gaming put Sea Limited in rough waters. As a result, the entertainment stock has fallen 90% from this high.
Nonetheless, two of its segments have prospered, with Shopee growing revenue by 24% yearly in the first nine months of 2023. Over the same period, its fintech arm, Sea Money, experienced 50% revenue growth.
Unfortunately, investors have punished it, as the Garena gaming segment continues to lag. In the first three quarters of 2023, revenue fell 43% versus the same period in 2022.
Still, Garena could see some improvement, as its battle royale game Free Fire, previously banned in India, has gained approval in that country of 1.4 billion. Such news could stoke optimism with the stock, especially if other games could see success similar to Free Fire, which was the world's most downloaded mobile game from 2019 to 2021.
Success in gaming could significantly lift Sea's financials. For now, revenue of $9.4 billion in the first nine months of 2023 grew by 5% yearly. Although it returned to quarterly losses in Q3, the company still reported a net income of $260 million in the first three quarters of 2023, well above the $2.1 billion loss in the same year-ago period.
Investors may not have noted Sea's good news, as its stock price hovers near multiyear lows. However, its recent P/E ratio of 32 is also near a low point historically. If Garena's growth can begin to match that of the two other segments, Sea Limited could finally make up for some of the ground lost over the last three years.
2. StoneCo
Since StoneCo operates only in Brazil, it is an unfamiliar name to most U.S. investors. The company has stood out by becoming the Brazilian version of Block's Square ecosystem, providing the fintech infrastructure for businesses of all sizes and also offering these businesses enterprise software services.
StoneCo also attracted pre-IPO interest from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, and after its launch in 2018, the company attracted interest from numerous other investors. By early 2021, StoneCo had risen to a high of $95 per share, a massive gain from its original $24 per share IPO price.
Unfortunately, the pandemic temporarily derailed this growth story as a slowdown in business activity, high inflation, and numerous bad loans sent the fintech stock plummeting. From peak to trough, StoneCo fell as much as 93%. However, over the last year, it rose 85% as its financials made a comeback.
For the first nine months of 2023, revenue of 8.8 billion reais ($1.8 billion) increased 28% compared with the same period in 2022. Growth in the MSMB (micro, small, and medium-sized businesses) segment, which is 87% of total revenue, rose 32%, while its software segment grew by 8%.
Moreover, since it kept its cost and expense growth in check, StoneCo has returned to profitability. In the first three quarters of 2023, net income of 944 million reais ($190 million) is up from a loss of 605 million reais in the first nine months of 2022.
With the recent stock price growth, the P/E ratio has risen to about 28. Considering the rapid growth in the business, that valuation could bode well for investors, as StoneCo's long-awaited recovery from the bear market may just be beginning.
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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Will Healy has positions in Berkshire Hathaway, Block, MercadoLibre, and Sea Limited. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, Block, MercadoLibre, Sea Limited, and StoneCo. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
