One specialty healthcare stock that's done particularly well since late last year is Intuitive Surgical (ISRG -0.58%). Even better, one pundit tracking the company thinks Intuitive has more gains still to come. This is despite the analyst recently issuing a price target cut.
Here's the skinny.
Two convincing testimonials
Stifel's Rick Wise appears to be more bullish on Intuitive Surgical of late, lifting his price target by $10. He now feels the stock is worth $430 per share, implying a potential 10% increase from the current level over the next 12 months or so.
Wise's move comes in the wake of an investor event featuring a pair of surgeons experienced in working with the kind of medical robots in which Intuitive Surgical specializes. The analyst said that both tested the company's recently approved da Vinci 5 system.
"Both physicians were impressed with dV5," the analyst wrote, "and while not yet viewing the system as a 'game changer' versus the da Vinci Xi, both doctors are eager to adopt dV5 and expect their hospital system to rapidly upgrade," to the new product.
To Wise, this signals the da Vinci 5 should experience better adoption than previously expected and further convince traditional healthcare providers to use robotic solutions.
Intuitive Surgical has a winning approach
Intuitive Surgical's recent rise is partially attributed to the investor craze for any company using artificial intelligence (AI) to at least some extent. AI is being smartly utilized by Intuitive Surgical to help power its Case Insights analytical tool.
This alone illustrates management's talent for straddling the cutting edge of advanced medical technology. The da Vinci product is arguably the most high-profile and successful robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system, and given the aging of the American population and the increasing acceptance of such solutions, its maker should do increasingly well in the coming years. If anything, Wise's new price target is modest given Intuitive Surgical's potential.
