UPDATE 2-NZ's F&P Healthcare cuts full-year forecast

(Adds analyst comment, share price reaction)

By Adrian Bathgate

WELLINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) - New Zealand medical equipment maker Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd (FPH.NZ: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) cut its full-year operating profit forecast by 16 percent on Wednesday, citing a strong New Zealand dollar, sending its shares down 5.9 percent.

The company said the strong dollar cancelled out an increase in sales, which meant operating profit for the year to March 31 would be around NZ$57 million ($45.6 million), from a previous forecast of about NZ$68 million.

The ongoing strength of the currency meant a profit downgrade was not a big surprise, said Goldman Sachs JBWere investment manager Mark Warminger, but the company still had a solid outlook based on increasing sales.

"What investors have to do is weigh up the odds of the currency moving higher, versus the outlook for the company and their products," Warminger said.

Shares in Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, a top-10 company, opened on Wednesday down 5.9 percent, before paring losses to last trade down 3.9 percent at NZ$2.93.

The stock has fallen 16 percent so far this year, compared with an 11.5 percent drop in the benchmark top 50 index .NZ50.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which makes more than 60 percent of its sales in U.S. dollars, has seen steadily declining operating profits from the NZ$104.4 million it posted in the year to March 2006, as the kiwi dollar remained well above its long-term average and the company's forward currency cover gradually expired.