Fisher & Paykel has not issued a trading update since December, which brokers believe bodes ill for its full-year-to-March trading result.
Forsyth Barr broker Tony Conroy was forecasting a "soft result" from the appliances division, but said it should be underpinned by a strong result from its finance division.
"We believe it will be borderline as to whether the appliances [arm of the] business has made an after-tax profit," Mr Conroy said.
He forecast group earnings before interest and tax (ebit) to be down 7.8% at $53.8 million, compared with last year's result, with after-tax profit up 42.9% to $25.6 million.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Peter McIntyre said divisional performance was expected to be mixed, with another "strong" result from the finance division, but otherwise a "lacklustre" performance by the Appliances manufacturing division, he said.
"Appliances was beset by a combination of subdued market conditions, currency transactions and input inflation costs, despite operational improvements," he said.
Mr McIntyre forecast group ebit to be down from $58.3 million last year to $52.4 million, with after-tax profit up 35% from $18 million to $24.3 million.
Both brokers expect Fisher & Paykel to continue its cautious outlook and noted that the trading update should reflect that the worst in trading conditions was now behind the company.
They believed a turnaround was imminent for the appliances division.
