Loop Capital升级至买入后，海平面上涨

Sea's (NYSE:SE) stock rose about 4% premarket on Wednesday after Loop Capital upgraded the shares to Buy from Hold.

The firm also raised the price target on the shares of the Singapore-based company, which operates the e-commerce platform Shopee, to $92 from $59.

The analysts noted that Sea has faced valuation pressure in the last two years, mainly because of aggressive competition and share loss to TikTok.

However, a recent announcement of a commission rate increase by the combined TikTok-Tokopedia, its first move since merging to satisfy Indonesian regulators, has sparked a revaluation in the stock.

In Loop's view, this signals that the shift to sustained profitable growth is finally underway and serves as a significant catalyst for revaluation of Sea's stock.

Earlier this month, analysts at J.P. Morgan had noted that ByteDance (BDNCE)-owned TikTok raising commissions in Indonesia leaves room for Sea's Shopee Indonesia to increase take-rates.

In February, GoTo's CEO Patrick Walujo said that GoTo and partner TikTok would fully adhere to the country's rules, which bans in-app transactions on social media, within a month and a half. In January, TikTok completed a transaction in which it committed to invest over $1.5B in a joint venture with Indonesia's GoTo's unit Tokopedia, which it would control. The move would help the Chinese company resume its shopping app service in the country.

Earlier this week, BofA upgraded Sea's stock to Buy from Neutral, citing improving momentum.

Sea (SE) has a Hold rating at Seeking Alpha's Quant Rating system, which consistently beats the market. Meanwhile, the Seeking Alpha authors' average rating is more positive with a Buy and so is the average Wall Street analysts' rating, Buy.