Global da Vinci procedures grew about 15% helped by growth in U.S. general surgery procedures and worldwide urologic procedures. The company shipped 185 da Vinci surgical systems during the quarter, up from 133 last year. The 15% growth in da Vinci procedure volume drove the instrument and accessory revenue higher by about 21%.
On recommendation trends, eleven of the eighteen analysts are expecting a “buy” or “strong buy” rating and six are predicting a “hold” rating. On the growth estimates front, the market is seeing an 8.30% growth for the current year and a 14% jump for the next year. On the shareholding front, 1.06% of shares are held by insiders, and institutions hold 91.42%.
With more than 4,400 installed systems, Intuitive Surgical dominates the robotic surgical systems market. The company invests more than 10% of revenue into research and development as known from its growth of 30% during the quarter. The company can remain on the top of the market till its R&D investments and financial strength remain strong.
On the competition front, Intuitive Surgical will face a bigger challenge from Medtronic (MDT), which intends to launch later this year its own robotic surgical system. Medtronic will release their earnings results for the fourth quarter of 2018 on May 24. Investors are expecting Medtronic to talk more about the launch of a robotic surgical system at their earnings conference.