Some private companies are sitting on the fence when it comes to making new investments given the still recovering economy.

According to a new survey from Sageworks, a Raleigh, N.C.-based research firm that collected data from 392 professionals from financial institutions, 57% said their business clients will not increase their capital expenditures due to the current economic situation.

For companies applying for loans, most are seeking to finance equipment, new or upgraded facilities and other working capital, Sageworks said. Nearly 40% of respondents said their business clients applied for loans for various working capital investments, while less than 1% applied for a loan to help fund hiring decisions.

While more than half of the survey's respondents predicted private companies will not be increasing capital expenditures, 24% said their clients are more likely to invest in new capital, Sageworks said.

Ten percent said they were unsure if their clients will increase or decrease their capital expenditures and 8% believed the economic climate will not affect their clients' investment decisions.

Sageworks said it conducted the online survey from March 8 through March 31 from its client database. Because of the way the survey was set up, there's no way to isolate each response and determine which institution it came from, a spokesman told Credit Union Times.

However, while the majority of responses were from banks, credit unions were 100% included in the target pool of people the survey was sent to and likely included their responses, the spokesman said.