Intuitive Surgical License Deal Sends Luna Shares to the Moon

By Rich Smith – Jul 8, 2013 at 9:12PM

NASDAQ: ISRG

Intuitive Surgical

Market Cap

$134B

Today's Change

(2.21%) $8.15

Current Price

$377.08

Price as of April 23, 2024, 4:00 p.m. ET

Luna will continue to develop technology for Intuitive Surgical's robots.

Shares of microcap fiber optic test and measurement sensor-maker Luna Innovations (LUNA -9.20%) surged as much as 85% in Monday trading before finally settling down to book a 41% gain for the day. The catalyst: The company announced that it had extended its multiyear agreement to develop and supply "high-speed shape-sensing technology" to robotic surgery giant Intuitive Surgical (ISRG 2.21%) for use in its da Vinci surgical robots.

The agreement promises to deliver "milestone" payments to Luna as it brings new components to market and, as Luna CEO My Chung explained in a statement, "further expands our relationship with a leader in the growing field of robotically assisted surgery" -- Intuitive Surgical.

With $2.3 billion in annual revenues, Intuitive Surgical makes more money in five days than Luna (annual revenue: $30 million) makes in a year.

Fool contributor Rich Smith has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Intuitive Surgical. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.