Topic: How To Invest

Q: I’d like your recommendation on Intuitive Surgical Inc. Thank you. I enjoy the Inner Circle.

Article Excerpt

A: Intuitive Surgical Inc., $821.21, symbol ISRG on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 118.4 million; Market cap: $96.7 billion; www.intuitive.com), develops, manufactures and markets the da Vinci Surgical System, along with related accessories, training, and services. Intuitive Surgical is based in Sunnyvale, California. Da Vinci is a computerized surgical system that translates a surgeon’s hand movements into corresponding micro-movements for surgical instruments that are placed inside a patient through small incisions. The process is safer and less invasive than regular surgery and reduces recovery time, scarring, and risk of infection. Approximately 1.24 million da Vinci procedures were performed during 2020, an increase of 1% from 2019. Sales of the da Vinci system account for 27% of Intuitive Surgical’s total revenue. The remaining 73% consists of recurring instrument and accessory revenue, service revenue, and operating lease revenue. As its surgical systems are adopted, the company is able to widen its expanding stream of revenue from added services and instrument sales. This provides the company with…