Intuitive Surgical shares dip on mixed-bag Q4, FY2018 earnings release

Shares in Intuitive Surgical (NSDQ:ISRG) have fallen slightly in after-hours trading after the robotic surgical maker released fourth quarter and fiscal year 2018 earnings that beat sales expectations but fell just short of earnings per share consensus on Wall Street.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company posted profits of $292.5 million, or $2.45 per share, on sales of approximately $1.05 billion for the three months ended December 31, seeing a massive swing from the red on the bottom line while sales grew 17.3% compared with the same period during the previous fiscal year.

During the fourth quarter, Intuitive Surgical reported that its systems revenue increased approximately 20%, while its instrument and accessory revenue grew approximately 18%, primarily driven by an increase in da Vinci procedure volume.

The company said that it shipped 290 da Vinci systems during the fourth quarter, up from 216 units shipped in the fourth quarter of 2017. The shipments included 84 units under operating lease and usage-based arrangements, up from 40 in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to the company’s earnings release.

Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share for the fourth quarter were $2.96, just behind the $3.07 consensus on Wall Street where analysts were looking for sales of $1.04 billion, which the company handily topped.

For the full fiscal year, Intuitive Surgical posted profits of approximately $1.13 billion, or $9.49 per share, on sales of approximately $3.72 billion, for bottom-line growth of 68.1% while sales grew 18.7% when compared to the previous year.

After adjusting to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $10.99, just behind the $11.10 consensus on Wall Street, where analysts expected to see sales of $3.71 billion, which the company beat.

Shares in Intuitive Surgical have fallen approximately 4.3% today in after-hours trading, at $513 as of 5:16 p.m. EST.

Last December, CEO Gary Guthart spoke at DeviceTalks West in Orange County, Calif. on how his company stays innovative and continues to lead the surgical robotics field.

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