Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of surgical robot maker Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq: ISRG) were up 15% today after the company released earnings.

So what: An earnings beat is nothing new for this Motley Fool Rule Breakers pick, but for this quarter, analysts were especially far behind the eight ball. Revenue increased 21% to $389.2 million and net income was $121.2 million, or $3.02 per share, trouncing estimates of $2.25 for EPS.

Now what: The da Vinci Surgical System is driving sales higher, especially internationally, resulting in a 35% increase in surgical procedures. Analysts can't say enough nice things about Intuitive Surgical today, and that praise combined with great earnings should give investors plenty of reason to keep pushing shares higher in 2011. The stock trades at a lofty 32 times forward earnings estimates, but this high-quality growth company looks to be worth every penny.

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