(Yicai Global) Jan. 24 -- Shares in Andon Health crashed by the exchange-imposed limit for the second consecutive trading day today, bringing an end to a buying frenzy that has seen the Chinese maker of home-use Covid-19 test kit’s stock gain as much as 15 times in value in the past two and a half months.

Andon Health [SHE:002432] plunged 10 percent to close at CNY62.90 (USD10). The stock is still worth 10 times more than it did in early November when the US Food and Drug Administration approved its home-use Covid-19 detection kit for emergency use.

The company, which had only just been ticking over until the fourth quarter last year, is expecting profit to as much as quintuple last year from the year before with revenue of CNY1.2 billion (USD190 million) due to a surge in orders from the US government and US army, according to its earnings forecast on Jan. 19.

US unit iHealth Lab received a USD1.3 billion order for 250 million test kits from the US Army Contracting Command and bagged USD333 million worth of sales to the states of New York and Massachusetts, Tianjin-based Andon said earlier this month. Just these two orders are equal to four times its 2020 revenue.

Before the pandemic, Andon mainly made blood pressure monitors and blood glucose meters. It made a net profit of CNY240 million (USD37.8 million) in 2020 amid strong sales of items such as forehead infrared thermometers and oximeters. That followed losses that widened to CNY242 million in 2019 from CNY11.3 million (USD1.8 million) in 2013.

The company’s net profit sank 86 percent to CNY50.1 million on a 51 percent drop in revenue to CNY790 million in the first three quarters of last year. But its earnings in the fourth quarter were five times the company’s revenue in the 14 years from 2007 to 2020.

Editor: Kim Taylor