UPDATE: JPMorgan Upgrades Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) Saying LT Opportunities Outweigh NT Pressures

October 15, 2012 6:48 AM EDT Send to a Friend
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Price: $501.53 +4.82%

Rating Summary:
    18 Buy, 3 Hold, 1 Sell

Rating Trend: Down Down

Today's Overall Ratings:
    Up: 11 | Down: 18 | New: 13
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(Updated - October 15, 2012 3:13 PM EDT)

Shares of Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) are higher Monday after JPMorgan upgraded the stock from Neutral to Overweight while lifting its price target to $625 from $610.

Analyst Tycho Peterson said while there are "clearly some headwinds" to the story, including the recent dVP decline and industry-wide European challenges, "we find the risk/reward increasingly compelling, in light of the meaningful opportunities emerging in partial nephrectomy, cholecystectomy, colorectal surgery and other areas (thoracic, etc.) – which, collectively, should more than offset the dVP softness and drive upside to Street estimates for the next several years."

Peterson said this upgrade call is not about the third quarter, with results due after the close on Tuesday, Oct. 16th. "We do not have enough conviction on the system placement number to say that one must go long in front of the print, and clearly, med tech pre-announcements to date have featured notable shortfalls (e.g., EW, NUVA, DXCM), which have been attributed, at least in part, to weakness in Europe and softer procedure volumes," the analyst cautions. However, he said risk is to the upside on revenue and EPS for 3Q and the year.

The analyst also notes the general surgery checks have been favorable. Our diligence on robotic surgical uptake suggests favorable trends in general surgery, despite a lack of full instrumentation,"

The firm raised FY12 EPS estimates to $14.85 from $11.57 and FY13 to $17.56 from $16.61.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Intuitive Surgical click here. For more ratings news on Intuitive Surgical click here.

Shares of Intuitive Surgical care up 3.3 percent to $511.


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