Latest news with #roboticassistedsurgery
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Where Will Intuitive Surgical Be in 5 Years?
Key Points Sector rotation and a hot valuation are weighing on shares of Intuitive Surgical. The company still has a healthy growth runway ahead with its core da Vinci system. However, it's important to avoid overpaying for even the best of companies. 10 stocks we like better than Intuitive Surgical › Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) is one of the best success stories you'll find in the healthcare sector. The company has helped patients worldwide as a pioneer in robotic-assisted surgery, and its business success has driven the stock to returns of over 25,000% since its initial public offering (IPO) in 2000. The company's flagship da Vinci system remains its crown jewel today and continues to drive profitable growth from an increasingly larger installed base. Yet the stock has wavered recently, currently sitting in the middle of its 52-week range. Is this a dip worth buying for the next five years, or is Intuitive Surgical losing its edge? Here is where the stock may go over the coming years. A hefty valuation could be weighing on the share price Intuitive Surgical currently trades at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 75. Meanwhile, analysts estimate the company will grow earnings by an average of just over 13.8% annually over the long term. The company has a sterling reputation for its long track record of business and investment performance; however, it's challenging to justify such a high valuation for the growth Wall Street anticipates. At the same time, the broader S&P 500 healthcare sector is trading near the low end of its 52-week range, which suggests that healthcare stocks aren't particularly popular at the moment. Although the broader stock market is near all-time highs, individual stocks, entire industries, or market sectors may be hot or cold at any given time. Sometimes, the simple explanation is the correct one. Market sentiment is working against the healthcare sector, so Intuitive Surgical's expensive valuation appears to be weighing on the stock. It happens. Intuitive Surgical still has more growth ahead That said, market dynamics can and will change over time, and five years is a considerable amount of time. Top-line and bottom-line growth tend to drive a stock's long-term performance, so it's essential to understand where a company stands in its business journey. Intuitive Surgical currently sells two systems: its da Vinci system, available in single- and multi-port configurations, used for a variety of soft tissue procedures, and the Ion, the company's newer system, used for performing minimally invasive peripheral lung biopsies. As of June 30, there are 10,488 da Vinci systems installed worldwide, generating recurring revenue for Intuitive Surgical as these systems consume supplies and require servicing over time. The global da Vinci installed base performed 17% more procedures in Q2 than the prior year, indicating that growth remains relatively healthy (no pun intended). The company estimates its core (da Vinci) addressable market at approximately 8 million annual soft tissue procedures, based on the da Vinci systems' current regulatory approvals and capabilities. Considering da Vinci systems will perform over 3 million procedures this year, it seems that Intuitive Surgical still has room for solid short- and medium-term growth, and that's speaking to organic growth, as in more installed systems and procedures. As a bonus, Intuitive Surgical has zero debt, is highly profitable, and has $4.5 billion in cash. Management could lean more into share repurchases to help grow its earnings per share. Given all of this, the 13% annualized growth rate Wall Street anticipates seems achievable. Where might the stock price be in five years? Investors can extrapolate this growth rate to see where the stock may trade over time. Applying that 13.8% growth rate to Intuitive Surgical's trailing-12-month earnings per share of $6.82, the company's earnings would grow something like this: 2026: $7.76 2027: $8.83 2028: $10.05 2029: $11.44 2030: $13.02 The stock has averaged a P/E ratio of 62 over the past 10 years, so here is where the stock may trade in five years, based on its current valuation and some other scenarios: Price-to-Earnings Ratio July 2030 Share Price Total Upside or Downside 75 $976 91% 65 $846 66% 55 $716 40% 45 $586 15% 35 $456 (11%) Calculations by author. If Intuitive Surgical reverts closer to its long-term averages, the current valuation could easily continue to weigh on the stock. Therefore, investors may want to err on the side of caution and focus on the lower valuations. If the broader market stumbles, Intuitive Surgical could even drop to a P/E ratio below its long-term norms. It's always good to build a margin of safety into these exercises. Intuitive Surgical hasn't lost its edge, but it is an overvalued stock. Investors may want to prepare for a five-year period in which the stock delivers underwhelming returns, in case Intuitive Surgical's valuation returns to a more appropriate level for its expected growth. Should you invest $1,000 in Intuitive Surgical right now? Before you buy stock in Intuitive Surgical, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Intuitive Surgical wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,774!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,064,942!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,040% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Justin Pope has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Intuitive Surgical. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Where Will Intuitive Surgical Be in 5 Years? was originally published by The Motley Fool
Khaleej Times
18-07-2025
- Health
- Khaleej Times
Abu Dhabi: 2 critically ill men get new lease on life after complex robotic lung surgery
Two male residents of Abu Dhabi in their 60s, once confined to their homes and reliant on oxygen to survive, have been given a new lease on life after undergoing a robotic-assisted double lung transplant — a first-of-its-kind surgery in the Gulf and among only a few performed globally. The complex procedure, hailed as a major medical milestone, is being seen by experts as a potential turning point in the future of transplant surgery. Both patients were battling idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and secondary pulmonary hypertension — progressive and life-limiting lung conditions that had left them housebound for over two years. Now, after the transplants, they have resumed daily life — one even took part in a transplant sporting event, a powerful symbol of recovery. 'These were patients who couldn't even walk to the bathroom. Now they're out with their families and look like healthy people; it's a profound transformation," said Dr Usman Ahmad, Chair of Thoracic Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. Tiny incisions, massive impact Traditional lung transplants require large incisions through the chest or sternum, often involving bone and muscle cuts that extend recovery and increase post-operation pain. In contrast, the robotic technique used in these surgeries involved just three one-centimetre ports and a small 5cm incision to remove and insert the lungs. The robotic system, in this case a Da Vinci robot, allows surgeons to perform the critical reconnections to the heart and airways with enhanced visual precision and minimal physical trauma. "We didn't break any bones, didn't cut through major muscles. That alone has made recovery significantly easier," said Dr Ahmad, who has spent over a decade perfecting robotic techniques in thoracic surgery. While the operation took around eight hours, slightly longer than a traditional lung transplant, the reduced complications and faster patient recovery made the extended duration well worth it. Precise coordination While the robot plays a central role in these surgeries, Dr Ahmad emphasised that success comes down to precise coordination among a 30-member surgical team. 'During those eight hours, about 30 people are involved — from perfusionists running the heart-lung bypass machine, to anaesthesiologists, nurses and critical care specialists. It's one of the most complex choreographies in medicine,' he explained. Both patients were supported by Veno-Arterial ECMO, a life-sustaining system that temporarily replaces heart and lung function during the surgery — a crucial measure given the severity of their illnesses. According to Dr Ahmad, the robotic transplant programme at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi has been years in the making, building on the hospital's experience with robotic kidney transplants and a rapidly growing lung transplant programme that relaunched in 2022. Since then, it has completed over 60 lungtransplants, many for international patients. Globally, robotic lung transplants remains rare, with only three or four medical centres attempting it so far. 'It's not that the region is behind — the world itself is just beginning to move in this direction. But what we've done here puts the UAE on the frontier of transplant innovation.' High risk, high reward The robotic approach is not suitable for every patient. It requires careful case selection and can only be performed at centres with both the technological capacity and surgical expertise to execute it safely. 'It's a high-stakes operation, but the rewards, in terms of patient outcomes, are immense,' said Dr Ahmad. Dr. Ahmad credited the UAE's integrated national transplant network for the swift turnaround, noting that both patients underwent surgery within just two months of being listed — an exceptionally short wait compared to global averages. He said this was made possible through regional collaboration and streamlined logistics, allowing for faster, better-matched organ allocation. Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi now plans to expand robotic technology into even more complex areas, including transplant and cancer surgeries. 'We've already performed combined heart-lung, lung-liver, and kidney-heart transplants,' said Dr Ahmad. 'Now, we're aiming to bring minimally invasive methods to the most complex cases.' Reflecting on the transformative impact of the procedures, he added: 'These patients become part of our lives. Seeing them return to movement, to breath, to life — that's why we do what we do.'
