Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) | Health Care: Health Care Equipment & Supplies | Reports January 24, After Market Closes.
Key Takeaways
- The Estimize consensus is calling for earnings per share of $6.16 on $754.09 million in revenue, 20 cents higher than Wall Street on the bottom line and $6 million on the top
- da Vinci sales increased by 9% in the fourth quarter with full year procedures jumping 15% from a year earlier
- New products and international expansion remain a key area of focus moving forward
Intuitive Surgical prepares to announce fourth-quarter results after Tuesday's closing bell. Increasing adoption of its flagship da Vinci surgical system helped deliver 6 consecutive quarters of better-than-expected earnings and revenue. Analysts expect the ongoing success of the robotic arm along with international expansion, new partnerships and a robust pipeline of new products to aide financial performance.
For the fourth-quarter, analysts at Estimize expect earnings to come in at $6.16 per share, about 4% higher than the same period last year. Estimate activity in the past 3 months hasn’t changed, likely in response to the Trump administration. Revenue for the period is forecasted to increase by 11% to $754.09 million, marking a 5th consecutive quarter of double digit growth. The stock increased by 16% in the past 12 months but took a downturn following the election. Practically speaking, Trump’s proposed policies don’t appear to take aim at the robotic arm maker. 
In an early look at the upcoming report, management noted that it sold 163 systems during the period and total of 537 for all of 2016. That figure presents a 9% gain from a year earlier and also brings the total number of systems in production near 4000. Procedures for the year increased approximately 15% from 652,000 in 2015 to 753,000 in 2016. The growth in overall procedures validates the efficacy of the system and help drive sales moving forward. More importantly it increases the need for high margin disposable instruments that generates more than 70% of ISRG’s total revenue.
In international markets, ISRG made similar progress with the volume of total system sales and procedures trending higher. The company did see some weakness in areas of Europe causing a 12% decline in system placement in the region. Dollar appreciation along with macroeconomic uncertainty could pose additional problems moving forward
Intuitive continues to look for new ways to bring robots to surgery. One of the exciting developments in the pipeline is a patient side cart that could be used in conjunction with the company’s Xi platform. The device is still in development but could be well on its way to regulatory review in the near future.
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