Dueling Fools: Intuitive Surgical

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It seems like something out of a sci-fi movie. You're lying on the operating table when you realize that a robot is the one slicing you open. OK, so technically Intuitive Surgical's (Nasdaq: ISRG) da Vinci surgical robots are just arms. An actual surgeon is needed for the procedure, even if it is a precision-perfect robotic appliance doing a lot of the grunt work.

Sound crazy? It might, but hospitals are snapping up the arms that make their operating rooms more productive and less fatiguing.

Now, Intuitive Surgical has been a big winner for the Rule Breakers newsletter. The stock has soared roughly 360% higher since it was originally singled out two years ago. It's not the only sci-fi pick in the newsletter's recommended list. iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT) is placing military robots on the battlefield, as well as Roomba vacuums and Scooba floor scrubbers in your home. TASER (Nasdaq: TASR) offers a less lethal form of police intervention with its ubiquitous stun guns.

But Intuitive Surgical has been the big winner. It doesn't hurt that it has blown past Wall Street expectations for 19 quarters in a row. That's great, but what about the future? Is the prognosis positive or negative?

Not all Fools agree. Billy Fisher is bullish on the company. Charly Travers is up for the challenge of playing the bearish devil's advocate. If you could rig up a pair of da Vinci robots to arm wrestle, this is probably what it would look like.   

Duel on!

• Read the bull argument
• Read the bear argument
• Read the bullish rebuttal
• Read the bearish rebuttal
• Sound off in Motley Fool CAPS
• Vote for the winner

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz knows better than to arm wrestle with a surgical robot. He doesn't own shares in any of the stocks mentioned in this article. The Fool has a disclosure policy.