Global da Vinci procedures grew about 18% helped by growth in U.S. general surgery procedures and worldwide urologic procedures. The 18% growth in da Vinci procedure volume drove the instrument and accessory revenue higher by about 20%.
Intuitive Surgical shipped 220 da Vinci surgical systems during the quarter, up from 166 last year. The system shipments included 44 systems shipped under operating lease arrangements, compared to 27 shipments in the previous year quarter.
The company ended the quarter with $4.3 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and investments, an increase of $191 million during the quarter, primarily driven by cash generated from operations.
The company received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for the Vessel Sealer Extend, the da Vinci SP Surgical System for use in certain urology procedures, and the SureForm 60, a single-patient-use 60mm stapler, in April 2018, May 2018, and July 2018.
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 first quarter of 2019 on August 23.
Shares of Intuitive Surgical ended Thursday’s regular trading session down 1.25% at $521.29 on the Nasdaq. The stock had been trading between $307 and $532.30 for the past 52 weeks.