Intuitive Surgical Inc. saw a surge in its stock price on Wednesday following positive updates on its latest surgical robot and strong fourth-quarter earnings, which exceeded expectations.
New Surgical Robot Application
During its fourth-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Intuitive Surgical revealed that it has submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration for its new surgical robot, the Da Vinci 5. This announcement was hailed as a significant milestone, indicating the company’s advancement in the field of robotic surgery. Analyst Joanne Wuensch from Citi expressed her optimism and increased her price target on the stock to $428 from $390, while reaffirming her Buy rating.
Impressive Q4 Earnings
Intuitive Surgical reported earnings of $1.60 per share for the fourth quarter, surpassing analysts’ estimates of $1.48 per share. This also marked a rise from last year’s earnings of $1.23 per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter reached $1.93 billion, surpassing last year’s $1.66 billion and aligning with the preliminary revenue estimates provided earlier this year on January 9th. FactSet analysts had anticipated revenue of $1.89 billion.
Surge in Surgical System Installments
The growth in revenue was primarily driven by an increase in the installation of surgical systems. Notably, worldwide da Vinci procedures grew by approximately 21% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. Additionally, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Intuitive Surgical stated that the latest fourth-quarter results were not significantly impacted. This is a notable departure from previous quarters when adverse effects from the virus were evident.
Positive Outlook and Analysts’ Views
Truist Securities analyst Richard Newitter expressed confidence in Intuitive Surgical’s future, proclaiming the company as one of the highest quality growth stories within the large-cap MedTech sector. He further emphasized that Intuitive Surgical is poised to remain the industry’s innovation leader in a burgeoning robotic surgery category. Newitter subsequently raised his price target to $435 from $390, maintaining his Buy rating.
Market Response
Pre-market trading reflected the positive sentiment surrounding Intuitive Surgical, with shares climbing 4.5% to $388. Over the past year, the stock has experienced a remarkable 52% surge.
