Drugmakers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are battling it out in the GLP-1 weight loss market. The pill version of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic has reignited competition between theses two fierce rivals.
Meanwhile, another major presence in the medical world -- device maker Intuitive Surgical (ISRG 2.66%) -- continues to chug along. And it looks set to do so regardless of which drug company wins the GLP-1 race.
Here's why you might want to add Intuitive Surgical shares to your investment portfolio.
The crowd is all-in on GLP-1 drugs
The truth is that GLP-1 weight loss drugs are an exciting development. So it is reasonable that Wall Street is heavily focused on the pharmaceutical companies leading the charge. However, there is a lot more going on in the healthcare sector. One still exciting niche is surgical robotics, where Intuitive Surgical was a pioneer thanks to its da Vinci robot.
Image source: Getty Images.
At the end of 2025, Intuitive Surgical had 11,106 of its surgical robots in the market, up 12% from 9,902 at the end of 2024. Meanwhile, the number of surgeries performed with a da Vinci system rose 18% year over year. There is clearly material demand among practitioners and patients for robotic surgery. That makes sense, given the generally less invasive nature of the process and often improved surgical outcomes.
There are risks and opportunities
That said, Wall Street isn't really ignoring Intuitive Surgical. The medical device maker's price-to-earnings ratio is very high at 61. However, that's actually below the five-year average P/E ratio of 71. So, historically speaking, the stock looks relatively cheap even if it looks expensive on an absolute level.
NASDAQ: ISRG
Key Data Points
Longer-term, the opportunity remains quite compelling for aggressive growth investors. With more and more surgeries performed using surgical robots, it seems likely that demand for da Vinci systems will remain strong. Meanwhile, there's an artificial intelligence (AI) angle, with the company already incorporating the technology to assist surgeons.
That said, it seems highly likely that AI could someday use surgical robots like the da Vinci system to perform surgeries. Given the da Vinci system's installed base, it could be a prime beneficiary of such an advance.
Intuitive Surgical likely has years of growth ahead
Intuitive Surgical is a growth stock, and anyone with a value bias should look elsewhere. However, if you are a growth investor in the healthcare sector, you might want to set aside GLP-1 makers for a moment and consider this high-flying medical device company. It has material opportunities ahead, and the stock could be viewed as cheap relative to its historical valuation.
