Vazquez said in a report that he has increased confidence in the company’s ability to drive growth over the next 5-10 years. He was particularly impressed with the system’s efficiency improvements and haptic feedback. According to Vazquez, da Vinci 5 has no singular feature worthy of noting for efficiency improvements. Rather, he views it as a culmination of more than 150 new features that could save up to 10-15 minutes per procedure.
da Vinci 5 won FDA clearance just over a month ago, further cementing Intuitive’s place atop the surgical robotic space. The company expects a limited launch in the U.S. to go into 2025 before a full commercial rollout. Features include new surgeon controllers and powerful vibration and tremor controls, leading the company to call da Vinci 5 its smoothest and most precise system to date.
[Brian Miller, Intuitive EVP and chief digital officer, will discuss the da Vinci 5 at DeviceTalks Boston, May 1–2, 2024. Register here. And read more about the da Vinci 5’s top design changes on our sibling site Medical Design & Outourcing.]
It also features a next-generation 3D display, Force Feedback technology and new data and computing capabilities. Vazquez and William Blair’s Justin Lin say the efficiencies provided by the new features could drive the growth of the system and Intuitive.
“In a market opportunity of over 20 million soft tissue procedures, the amount of time saved can be meaningful to the healthcare system and to physicians looking to increase utilization of robotics,” the analysts wrote.
Despite the potential impact of weight loss drugs on bariatric surgery, the analysts also say that most surgeons think the market will eventually return to more normal growth rates. Feedback at SAGES led the analysts to view bariatric surgery as a source of potential upside this year and beyond.
The analysts concluded: “Altogether, we came away with increased confidence in Intuitive’s ability to drive durable midteens-plus growth for the next 5 to 10 years. Combined with what we believe should be margin expansion from da Vinci 5, da Vinci SP, and Ion all ramping to margin-accretive levels, we believe EPS can potentially even grow above this range over the long term. With shares trading at 52 times our 2025 EPS, we maintain our Outperform rating on the stock.”
Medical Design & Outsourcing: The Intuitive da Vinci 5’s top design changes: ‘This is groundbreaking for robotic surgery’
