| | | Intuitive Surgical Pops After Crushing First-Quarter Expectations
Intuitive Surgical ( ISRG) popped late Tuesday after crushing Wall Street's first-quarter expectations on growing demand for its robotic surgical system called da Vinci.
Shares spiked 5.9%, near 460, in after-hours trading on the stock market today. The stock ended the regular session up 4.1%, at 435.45. Intuitive stock is consolidating with a buy point at 452.10. Meanwhile, medical products stocks broadly rose 1.6% at the closing bell.
For the first quarter, Intuitive reported adjusted profit of $2.44 per share on $848 million in revenue, growing 43% and 25%, respectively, vs. the year-earlier period. Both metrics easily topped the consensus for adjusted income of $1.99 per share on $767 million in sales.
Evercore analyst Vijay Kumar notes Intuitive was expected to report a solid quarter — "and the company did not disappoint."
"This impressive top line was mostly driven by systems (sales), which contributed two-thirds to the revenue beat with systems coming in about 33 above consensus," Kumar said in a note to clients. "The remaining one-third beat came from higher instruments and accessories consumable revenue."
System Sales RiseWorldwide, Intuitive shipped 185 da Vinci Surgical Systems, up from 133 in the year-earlier quarter. The number of procedures performed using da Vinci systems grew 15% on a year-over-year basis, driven by growth in surgical and urologic procedures.
The lion's share of growth stemmed from system sales, which increased 46% to $253 million. But the biggest chunk of sales came from instrument and accessory revenue, which grew 21% to $460 million. Service revenue also rose 11% to $153 million.
Instrument and accessory revenue per procedure came in at $1,935, which is seasonally strong, Kumar said. The number of procedures in the U.S. grew 14%, though international sales dipped 20%. Investors will likely look for updates on the system's performance in China and Japan, he said.
Intuitive didn't offer 2018 guidance. Analysts had modeled adjusted profit of $9.61 per share on $3.49 billion in sales.
ALLISON GATLIN |
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