Intuitive Surgical (NSDQ:ISRG) said today its board of directors has increased the authorized amount available under its share repurchase program to $3 billion.
The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company said the timing and total amount of stock repurchases will depend on market conditions, and may be made in open market purchases, private transactions, accelerated share repurchase programs, issuer self-tender offers and otherwise.
“We are committed to investing our resources to advance our surgical robotics business. We also seek to return excess cash to our shareholders responsibly, and this authorization gives us the flexibility to do so,” CFO Marshall Mohr said in prepared remarks.
In October, Intuitive Surgical released 3rd quarter earnings that smashed Wall Street’s forecast, coming in at more than a dollar above the consensus earnings estimate on sales growth of nearly 16%.
The robot-assisted surgery device maker posted profits of $211.0 million, or $5.31 per share, on sales growth of 15.8% to $682.9 million for the 3 months ended Sept. 30, for bottom-line growth of 26.1% compared with Q3 2015.
Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were $6.19, a full $1.06 ahead of The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $650.5 million.
Intuitive also said it inked a co-development deal with China’s Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical to work on robot-assisted, catheter-based medical devices for the early diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.
