Intuitive Surgical at 52-Week High: What's Driving the Stock?
Share price of Sunnyvale, CA-based Intuitive Surgical Inc ISRG scaled a new 52-week high of $874.54 on May 19, eventually closing a bit lower at $870.33. The company has gained 38.5% over the past one year, much better than the S&P 500’s 16.3%.
Average volume of shares traded over the last one year was remarkable at approximately 415.1K. The stock has a market cap of $30.06 billion.
Comparison with Broader Industry
For the majority of the last three months, the company’s share price has considerably outperformed the Zacks categorized Medical - Instruments sub-industry. The stock has rallied 18.4% over the last three months, outshining the sub-industry’s return of 5.8%. Notably, the stock has a market cap of $32.06 billion. Taking the stable performance of the stock into consideration, we expect Intuitive Surgical to scale higher in the coming quarters. The company’s positive long-term growth of 9.4% also holds promise.
Estimate Revision Trend
This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company’s estimate revision trend for the current year is favorable. In the past 60 days, three estimates have moved up with no downward revision. The magnitude of estimate revision over the same time period increased around 2.8% to $20.25 per share.
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. Price and Consensus
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. Price and Consensus | Intuitive Surgical, Inc. Quote
Growth Catalysts
The latest 52-week high came on the back of the company’s receipt of the European CE Mark approval for its new da Vinci X Surgical System late in April. Notably, this marks an upgrade to the company’s flagship da Vinci Xi technology which received CE Mark in 2014. Earlier, the company had expected the commercial launch to take place in the second quarter of 2017 itself.
The market is optimistic about the latest upgrade, which is an advanced form of the da Vinci Xi technology. The latest system offers optimized, focused-quadrant surgery with procedures including prostatectomy, partial nephrectomy, hernia repair, benign hysterectomy and sacrocolpopexy.
The company’s consistent effort on expansion through strategic innovation in general and thoracic surgery, colorectal surgery and hernia repair continues to drive investors’ confidence on the stock. In this regard, we note that, in the recent past, FDA approved Integrated Table Motion, which is a combination of da Vinci Xi and Trumpf Medical’s TruSystem 7000dV, a sophisticated operating table.
This apart, the company is expected to gain prominence in Europe and Asia by enhancing its organizational capabilities, which should further drive the company’s stock price.
Key Stocks
A few better-ranked stocks in the broader medical sector are Luminex Corporation LMNX, Hologic, Inc. HOLX and Edward Lifesciences, Inc. EW. Notably, Luminex sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Hologic and Edward Lifesciences carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Luminex has an expected long-term adjusted earnings growth of almost 16.3%. The stock added roughly 13% over the last three months.
Hologic has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 11.3%. The stock has a solid one-year return of roughly 29.9%.
Edward Lifesciences recorded a stellar EPS growth rate of almost 16% (last 3–5 years of actual earnings). The stock has a solid one-year return of roughly 12.9%.
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