Intuitive Surgical (ISRG +1.97%) isn't at the forefront of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. It makes surgical robots, which are very clearly a medical device.
And yet you'll find Intuitive Surgical in the First Trust Nasdaq Artificial Intelligence and Robotics ETF (ROBT +1.58%), a popular exchange-traded fund (ETF) dedicated to the AI space. That little nugget of information could be what helps drive Intuitive Surgical's shares 50% higher or more from where they are today.
Intuitive Surgical is coming out of a drawdown
One key aspect for investors to understand about Intuitive is that it is a growth stock. It's a fairly large business today, but the stock has a tendency to experience significant sell-offs even as it rises over the long term.
This sawtooth pattern is fairly typical for a growth stock. To put some numbers on this, Intuitive has experienced eight drawdowns of roughly 30% or more since it went public.
Data by YCharts.
It is working its way back from just such a drawdown right now. The big story is what happens after these sell-offs, which have historically been followed by price rallies to new highs. If you are a long-term growth investor, Intuitive Surgical's high-tech healthcare may be of interest to you, despite the stock's apparent high valuation.
The da Vinci surgical robot is a high-tech medical device. Demand has been very strong over time and remains so even now. In the third quarter of 2025, the company installed 427 devices, up from 329 in the same quarter of 2024.
There are now 10,763 da Vinci robots being used around the world. Each new system sold bolsters Intuitive's annuity-like sales of instruments, accessories, and services.
Image source: Getty Images.
What do surgical robots have to do with AI?
The real flywheel here is the sale of what amounts to parts and services. Getting more da Vinci robots in place is exciting, but it is not the primary driver of the business. In fact, sales of the robots only account for around 25% of the top line of the income statement. The more important push is to get more and more surgical procedures done with them.
On that score, procedures using the company's robot increased 20% year over year in the third quarter of 2025. That's impressive given that the number of systems in place only increased 13% year over year. This is where artificial intelligence starts to come into play.
NASDAQ: ISRG
Key Data Points
One of the big benefits of robotic surgery is that it improves patient outcomes. It is less invasive and allows for more precise procedures.
And there's an interesting nuance here. Given today's technology, a robot doesn't have to be controlled by a person sitting in the same room as the robot. It could be controlled by a surgeon thousands of miles away. That would allow top-quality care to be provided wherever a da Vinci robot is located.
What if that robot didn't need a surgeon at all? It's conceivable that more routine procedures could be handled by a specially trained AI system. The information needed to train the AI would be actual operations, such as the ones being performed today on da Vinci systems.
In other words, Intuitive has everything it needs to incorporate AI to the point where it is actually performing the procedures. Without the limitations of a human doctor, more surgeries could be performed, and more parts and services would be required to support the da Vinci systems in use.
A long way to go for AI surgery
To be fair, AI autonomously operating a da Vinci surgical robot is likely a long way off. But Intuitive Surgical is already starting to integrate AI into its products in smaller ways, which proves that this technology is important to the medical device maker's future.
AI may not be the big driver today, but it could open up a huge long-term growth opportunity in the future. And that could be a key part of what takes Intuitive Surgical's stock 50% higher from here.
