Topic: How To Invest

Stock advice: Intuitive Surgical reports higher sales and earnings

Intuitive Surgical, symbol ISRG on Nasdaq, makes the “da Vinci,” a computerized surgical system. Intuitive trades at a high price per share, but you can buy as few as you wish through any broker.

You can get our stock advice on Intuitive and other aggressive picks in our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter.

Guided by a miniature camera connected to a 3-D monitor, surgeons use the da Vinci to operate by remotely manipulating tiny robotic arms. This is safer and far less invasive than regular surgery. It reduces the patient’s recovery time, post-operative discomfort, scarring and infection risk.

In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Intuitive earned $104.1 million, or $2.66 a share. That’s up 22.0% from $85.3 million, or $2.20 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 18.1%, to $388.1 million from $328.6 million.

Revenue from replenishable supplies rose 28.3%. Intuitive gets over half of its income from stable and steady sales of replacement parts, training and other services.

Intuitive is debt free, and has cash of $1.8 billion, or $45.92 a share. It spends a high 8% of its revenue on research, and may use some of its cash to expand.

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