Analysts have piled on. Deutsche Bank slashed its target. Bank of America trimmed its own. The mood around the stock turned sour fast.<\/p>\n
Much of the worry traces back to a single May announcement about how long Intuitive\u2019s surgical tools can be reused.<\/p>\n
Then Goldman Sachs stepped in and told investors that their fear is misplaced.<\/strong><\/p>\n Goldman Sachs kept its Buy rating on Intuitive Surgical and a 12-month price target of $558<\/strong> in a June 15 research note from analyst David Roman.<\/p>\n That target sat about 36% above<\/strong> where the stock closed on June 12, a bold stance at a moment when much of Wall Street was moving the other way.<\/p>\n More Healthcare Coverage:<\/strong><\/p>\n The call cuts against a clear bearish tide. <\/p>\n CNBC data shows Deutsche Bank dropped its target to $366<\/strong> and Bank of America cut its own to $515<\/strong> within the past few weeks.<\/p>\n Goldman\u2019s view is that investors are misreading Intuitive\u2019s May 21 update, which involves over 100 enhancements<\/strong> for the da Vinci 5 robotic system, according to Investing.com, as a threat to its most important revenue line.<\/p>\n Beijing Youth Daily / Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The update covered two changes, and Goldman argues that the market blurred them together.<\/p>\n The first involves Force Feedback instruments, which let surgeons feel the push and pull on tissue through the console controls, according to an article on Intuitive\u2019s Newsroom. <\/p>\n Intuitive said five of its six Force Feedback tools now last up to 15 uses, up from six, GlobNewswire reported.<\/p>\n That change carries no impact on revenue<\/strong> per case. It simply lets more hospitals adopt a tool that Intuitive could not supply at scale.<\/p>\n The second change targets older core instruments, where Intuitive plans to raise the number of uses in 2027 to lower hospital costs.<\/p>\n That one does trim instruments and accessories revenue<\/strong>, the recurring money Intuitive collects each time a hospital uses its tools. The segment brought in $1.69 billion last quarter, a 23% jump, according to its SEC release.<\/p>\n The stock\u2019s 28% slide<\/strong> this year, reported in a Simply Wall St article on Yahoo Finance, stems partly from a fear that Goldman thinks is overblown.<\/p>\n Some investors read the May move as a defensive swipe<\/strong> at firms that refurbish and resell used da Vinci instruments, such as Restore Robotics.<\/p>\n Goldman disagrees, noting that Intuitive has extended instrument life repeatedly for years, long before refurbishers became a talking point.<\/p>\n Related: Microsoft and Copilot just hit a jackpot in healthcare<\/strong><\/p>\n Precedent helps. Intuitive\u2019s 2020 Extended Use Program raised some core instruments from 10 uses to between 12 and 18.<\/p>\n It warned then of a 7% cut to revenue <\/strong>per procedure. The actual drop landed near 2% before returning to growth.<\/p>\n Goldman expects a repeat, with higher-priced Force Feedback tools and advanced instruments offsetting the cheaper core tools.<\/p>\n The bank still models a modest 1% annual decline in U.S. revenue per procedure, with estimates unchanged.<\/p>\n A few things need to go Intuitive\u2019s way before the stock can reach Goldman\u2019s target.<\/p>\n Four factors investors should track:<\/p>\n A new Force Feedback cardiac trial, reported by TipRanks, could widen Intuitive\u2019s lead if the results land well.<\/p>\n The fundamentals underneath remain strong. <\/p>\n Intuitive grew first-quarter revenue 23% to $2.77 billion, with da Vinci procedures up 16% and 847,000 procedures performed, according to a recent SEC filing.<\/p>\n For investors, the takeaway is straightforward. <\/strong><\/p>\n Goldman\u2019s call rewards patience over panic, but Intuitive Surgical\u2019s July earnings report<\/strong> is the real test of whether the instrument fears are valid or not.<\/p>\n Related: Goldman Sachs spots stock market\u2019s next winners<\/strong><\/p>\n #Goldman #Sachs #Intuitive #Surgical #call #grain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) has been one of the year\u2019s most punished large-cap healthcare names. The maker of the da Vinci surgical robot has watched its stock fall about 28% in… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[246],"tags":[124,1360,10905,10903,1361,10904],"class_list":["post-8827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-popular","tag-call","tag-goldman","tag-grain","tag-intuitive","tag-sachs","tag-surgical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Goldman Sachs reiterates its Buy rating on Intuitive Surgical<\/h2>\n
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![](\"https:\/\/www.thestreet.com\/.image\/NDA6MDAwMDAwMDAzMDg4MDAy\/robot_pl_230626.jpg?profile=rss\")
What Intuitive\u2019s instrument changes actually mean for revenue<\/h2>\n
Why Goldman thinks the sell-off misreads the story<\/h2>\n
What still has to go right for ISRG stock<\/h2>\n
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