Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq: ISRG) reported earnings on April 19. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Intuitive Surgical beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue increased significantly. GAAP earnings per share expanded significantly.

Gross margins contracted, operating margins increased, net margins increased.

Revenue details
 Intuitive Surgical reported revenue of $611.4 million. The 16 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated sales of $582.9 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 23% higher than the prior-year quarter's $495.2 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
 EPS came in at $4.56. The 16 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $4.03 per share. GAAP EPS of $4.56 for Q1 were 30% higher than the prior-year quarter's $3.50 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
 For the quarter, gross margin was 71.0%, 90 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 41.1%, 210 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 30.9%, 190 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. (Margins calculated in GAAP terms.)

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $631.4 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $4.33.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $2.58 billion. The average EPS estimate is $18.09.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 4,216 members out of 4,450 rating the stock outperform, and 234 members rating it underperform. Among 1,128 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 1,071 give Intuitive Surgical a green thumbs-up, and 57 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Intuitive Surgical is outperform, with an average price target of $595.27.

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