Procedures. For Intuitive Surgical (ISRG 0.32%) investors, nothing matters so much as seeing the da Vinci robotic surgery system used in more procedures, especially general surgery.
Despite reports of errors using the da Vinci system, Intuitive Surgical has put up good numbers so far. Total procedures rose 25% in the fourth quarter and 29% in last year's first quarter. The company sold 175 and 140 da Vinci systems, respectively, during those periods.
For its part, Wall Street is expecting revenue to grow 17.7% to $582.9 million, resulting in $3.99 of profit per share. The company has beat earnings estimates in each of the past four quarters, according to data supplied by Yahoo! Finance. Intuitive Surgical stock is still down nearly 6% over that period.
Would another beat send Intuitive Surgical stock soaring? Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova weighs in on this question in the video below. Please watch and then leave a comment to let us know what you whether you would buy, sell, or short Intuitive Surgical stock at current prices.
