Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq:ISRG) shares took a hit after an earnings call in which CEO Gary Guthart pushed back the timing of a potential next-gen surgical robotics multiport system.
“As we start this year, we do not currently expect a new multiport system launch in 2023,” Guthart said in a call with analysts this evening.
Later in the night, BTIG analysts released a note with the headline: “Multiport Head-Fake Tanks Shares Midway Through the Earnings Call; It’s Not What Many Wanted to Hear.”
ISRG shares were down more than 9% to $257.98 apiece after-hours.
“Shares tanked, and we’re scratching our heads a bit as we try to understand ISRG’s thinking. Some of the change in posture appears to be stemming from a dynamic regulatory environment (across multiple geographies), which may require clinical trials that push out clearances, but supply chain (and new component availability) also appears to be an issue,” said BTIG analysts Ryan Zimmerman and Sam Durno. The analysts still stuck with their BUY rating, but lowered their price target to $279 from a previous $316.
Intuitive also had a Q4 miss
On top of apparently pushing back the timing on a next-gen robot, Intuitive’s fourth-quarter results missed the consensus forecast.
The Sunnyvale, California-based surgical robot developer posted profits of $324.9 million. That amounts to 91¢ per share on sales of $1.655 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022. Intuitive registered a 0.3% bottom-line gain on sales growth of 6.7%.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share came in at $1.23. That finishes 2¢ behind projections of $1.25 apiece on Wall Street. Analysts expected sales totaling $1.68 billion.
Intuitive projects da Vinci surgical robot procedures to increase by approximately 12–16% year-over-year in 2023. This comes despite fewer placements, the company said previously. Intuitive cited a COVID-19 resurgence in China as the driving force impacting procedure volumes in the area.
When the company released its preliminary results earlier this month, CEO Gary Guthart said customers continue to grow adoption of training, products and services from Intuitive.
“We remain focused on supporting our customers’ drive to improve the quadruple aim in acute interventions,” he said.
Executive editor Chris Newmarker contributed to this report.
