WESTCHINACEMENT (02233) stocks halved in price, questioning: domestic contraction, overseas betting, and high leverage pressing on the top.

The stock price of WESTCHINACEMENT (02233), which had risen more than 6 times in two years, faced a sharp revaluation in just over a month. On January 28, 2026, the stock price of WESTCHINACEMENT soared to a historical high of 3.83 Hong Kong dollars, a whopping 669% increase from its low of 0.498 Hong Kong dollars in January 2024. However, just two trading days after hitting the historic high, the stock price plummeted by 15.47% on February 2, halting the upward trend. On March 4, WESTCHINACEMENT announced positive earnings for 2025, forecasting a net profit attributable to shareholders between 832 million to 895 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33% to 43%. This positive announcement, which should have supported the stock price, instead became a turning point in market expectations. On March 5, the company's stock price opened significantly lower, dropping to a low of 1.82 Hong Kong dollars, a decrease of over 52% from its historical high, with a 26.6% decline in a single day, and for the next 30 trading days, it failed to fill the gap left by the plummet. A positive earnings forecast triggered a significant adjustment in the stock price, reflecting investors' deep-seated doubts about the company's growth prospects and profit sustainability. Once a hot investment target, the company now faces operational concerns as its performance is broken down. With earnings peaking and then declining, the growth momentum has significantly weakened. WESTCHINACEMENT's 2025 annual performance report released on March 24 showed a revenue of 9.621 billion yuan for the year, a year-on-year increase of 15.3%; however, revenue in the second half of the year was 4.203 billion yuan, a 9.5% decrease year-on-year and a 22.43% decrease quarter-on-quarter. In terms of profit, the company reported a net profit attributable to shareholders of 880 million yuan for the whole year, a 40.5% increase year-on-year, but only 132 million yuan for the second half of the year, a 44.77% decrease year-on-year and an 82.35% decrease quarter-on-quarter. This means that WESTCHINACEMENT's profit growth in 2025 was mainly contributed by the first half of the year, while the second half of the year saw a significant contraction in growth momentum. Based on this, international investment bank Fuli has maintained a "buy" rating on the company after the positive earnings announcement, but lowered the target price from 4 Hong Kong dollars to 3.1 Hong Kong dollars, and explicitly stated that the company's second-half performance was significantly below market expectations. Besides the pressure on profitabilit