This followed other downgrades by Jarden and Sydney-based Barrenjoey in the past week.
Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said Fisher & Paykel’s share price has been weak since the Middle East conflict.
“If you are servicing into the Middle East, the countries there have reduced demand – as Cochlear and CSL have seen.
“Fisher & Paykel has good inventory but there’s future risk – slower homecare sales and margin pressure from distribution and price rises in plastic and resin,” he said.
Cancer diagnostics company Pacific Edge surged 9.5c or 54.29% to 27c after learning that a draft local coverage determination for its Cxbladder testing has been published to the US Medicare database, with explicit coding guidance.
Pacific Edge said there was a 45-day notice and comment period, and within 12 months Medicare consultant Novitas must publish the final determination or withdraw the draft.
Solly said the update on Medicare funding was a big boost for Pacific Edge: “There are still elements to be confirmed, but it has the potential to accelerate the company’s revenue.
“Pacific Edge’s new product Triage Plus has been included in the determination earlier than expected, and it’s now up to the company to work hard and get the products into the market.
“We’ve seen a big spread between the winners and losers today – Fisher & Paykel and Pacific Edge,” Solly said. “The market is gearing up for the reporting season starting next week and is wary about earnings guidance.”
The BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index was 50.5 in April, down from 52.8 in March and 54.6 in February.
“It shows manufacturing is still in expansion territory, but it’s getting close to the point where the economy is starting to shrink,” said Solly.
Fletcher Building rose 14c or 4.84% to $3.03 after selling its Iplex South Australian property to an investor for A$20.05m ($24.5m) – a gain of A$10m. Iplex will lease the site for up to 12 months after the sale is completed next month.
Summerset was down 21c or 2.84% to $7.19; Serko decreased 7c or 4.61% to $1.45; Port of Tauranga shed 14c to $8.28; and Synlait Milk declined 2c or 4.17% to 46c.
Gentrack, which reports on Monday, improved 18c or 4.59% to $4.10; Freightways was up 26c or 2.01% to $13.20; and Briscoe Group increased 10c or 2.08% to $4.90.
Property for Industry gained 6c or 2.51% to $2.45; and Investore was up 3.5c or 3.38% to $1.07.
Meridian Energy, down 6c to $5.85, has received consent to build a second 120MW solar farm at Bunnythorpe near Palmerston North. The 250,000 solar panels will produce up to 225GWh of electricity a year – enough to power about 30,000 homes.
Meridian said national electricity demand in April was 3.7% higher than the same month last year, and retail sales volumes increased 8.2%, with residential 25% higher.
In the month to May 11, national hydro storage increased from 106% to 119% of the historical average, with South Island storage at 109% and North Island 201%.
The Warehouse Group, down 1c to 61.5c, reported a decrease of 1.4% to $700.8m in sales for the 13 weeks ending May 3, and sales for the previous 39 weeks were up 0.7% to $2.3b.
The Warehouse stores’ sales were down 2.5% to $405.3m for the third quarter compared with the same period last year; Warehouse Stationery declined 2.9% to $57.1m; and Noel Leeming sales were up 0.7% to $236.6m.
Auckland International Airport, down 1c to $8.38, recorded 1.555 million passengers in April, comprising 845,978 international and 709,610 domestic. All were up 1% on the same month last year.
The airport company said flights from Auckland to the Middle East continued to be affected by the conflict, with passengers and seat capacity on the Middle Eastern routes lower by 80% and 74% respectively in April.
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