Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) Readies To Slice Up Q3 Estimates
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) shares are trading higher ahead of its earnings call after the market closes today, October 20, 2009. The shares are down about 0.95% to $267.17.
Analysts currently expect Intuitive Surgical to report quarterly Q3 EPS $1.48 on revenues of $258.23 million. For the second quarter, Intuitive Surgical reported EPS of $1.62, blowing out the Street estimates of $1.25, on $260 million in revenue. Q308 EPS was $1.44 versus estimates of $1.27, and revenues were $236 million versus the consensus of $226.61 million.
Intuitive Surgical shares are trading 23.76% higher since their Q209 results.
Data from Bloomberg shows that 4 analysts have Buy ratings on Intuitive Surgical and 9 have Holds on the stock. Intuitive Surgical analysts have an average price target of $252.20. The 'street high' estimate is $350 for the stock, and $160 is the low estimate from the 13 analysts covering ISRG.
In September, Deutsche Bank reiterated their 'Buy' rating on Intuitive Surgical, and raised their price target to $300 from $225. Deutsche analyst says, "Intuitive Surgical received notice from the Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) of a favorable recommendation for approval of the da Vinci System. Based on our math, each da Vinci system translates into approximately $1.8 million in sales ($1.4 million for the system, $250k in disposables, $130k in service) and 1c of EPS. Assuming 140 systems [will be sold in Japan] this translates into $250 million in sales and $1.40 in EPS."
October saw Brean Murray raising its estimates and price target again on shares of Intuitive Surgical this morning. They maintained a Buy rating and the firm moved its target from $235 to $280. The firm cites an expectation that sales of Intuitive's da Vinci product will recover ahead of other capital equipment in the med-tech sector. Brean Murray now sees FY10 system sales of the da Vinci at 341 units, up from 332 previously. Brean Murray moves its FY09 sales estimate from $978 million to $982 million and its EPS estimate from $5.41 to $5.48. The Street is currently looking for FY09 sales and EPS of $1 billion and $5.40, respectively. For FY10, the firm now sees sales of $1.25 billion, up from $1.23 billion, versus the consensus of $1.18 billion, and EPS of $7.03, up from $6.58 and compared to the analyst estimate of $6.71.
The next day, Soleil Securities reported that they maintained their Hold rating, and raised their price target from $195 to $221. Soleil analyst says, "Yesterday, an article appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association comparing da Vinci prostatectomy (dVP) versus traditional open procedures--the authors concluded that dVP patients experienced greater genitourinary complications, incontinence, and erectile dysfunction. Results from this study are challengeable (i.e., retrospective, non-randomized, no apples-to-apples comparison). While the JAMA article is interesting, we don't expect an impact on da Vinci purchases in the short-term (<1 year)...Recent conversations with our hospital consultant suggests da Vinci expansion opportunities, especially in the Southeast U.S.
Moreover, our consultant sees Intuitive Surgical working diligently to expand clinical utilization...Finally, for 3Q09, we're looking for total sales of $270.9M (vs. Street $256.1M)." The $221 target is below the current market price of $265.56.
Conversely, at the end of September, Lazard Capital Markets downgraded Intuitive Surgical from Buy to Hold.
Intuitive Surgical will issue its Q309 results via press release at approximately 4:05 PM (EDT) on October 20, 2009. Intuitive Surgical will also have a conference call that will take place at 4:30pm, which is being webcast by Thomson Reuters and can be accessed at the company's web site at www.intuitivesurgical.com. Stay tuned to StreetInsider.com's Earnings section to see our analysis of the highly-anticipated quarterly results within seconds of their release.
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