Shares in Intuitive Surgical (NSDQ:ISRG) have fallen today despite the surgical robotics giant posting fourth quarter earnings that handily topped consensus on The Street.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company posted losses of $38.8 million, or 35¢ per share, on sales of $892.4 million for the 3 months ended December 31, seeing a 119% swing to the red on the bottom line while sales grew 17.9% compared with the same period during the previous year.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $2.54, significantly ahead of the $2.27 consensus on Wall Street where analysts were looking for sales of $864 million, which the company handily topped.
Losses in the fourth quarter reflected $318 million, or $2.83 per diluted share, of income tax expenses resulting from the 2017 Tax Act, Intuitive Surgical said.
“This amount primarily relates to a one-time deemed repatriation tax on undistributed foreign earnings and revaluation of deferred taxes due to a reduction of the U.S. corporate income tax rate,” Intuitive said in a press release.
For the full year, Intuitive Surgical posted profits of $660 million, or $5.67 per share, on sales of $3.1 billion, seeing the bottom line shrink 10.3% while sales grew 15.7%.
Procedures using the company’s da Vinci platform during the fourth quarter grew 17% when compared to the same period during the previous year, the company said, driven primarily by US general surgery and worldwide urologic procedures.
Intuitive Surgical said it shipped a total of 216 da Vinci units during the fourth quarter, up from 163 during the same period last year, according to a press release.
Shares in Intuitive Surgical have fallen 5.1% today, at $427.01 as of 10:28 a.m. EST.
