(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)Intuitive Surgical Inc.(
) is scheduled to post its second-quarter results after the market closes on Wednesday. Analysts currently expect the company to report net profit of $48.5 million on revenue of $229.5 million. In the year ago period, the company earned $51.2 million on revenue of $219.2 million.
Intuitive is the maker of the da Vinci surgical system, a state-of-the-art, robotic-assisted surgical device, costing between $700,000 and $2.3 million. A product of Intuitive Surgical, the da Vinci Surgical System is the most popular robotic surgery system in the world. da Vinci has been used in more than 100 different types of surgical procedures. The most common procedures are da Vinci Prostatectomy and the da Vinci Hysterectomy.
During the first three months of 2009,
the slowdown in hospital spending was reflected in softer product sales at Intuitive. Overall, the company placed 66 da Vinci systems into hospitals, compared to 74 systems sold during the same period in 2008.
Sunnyvale, California-based company has registered strong growth since launching the surgical robots about a decade ago. However, the weak economy has forced hospitals to cut spending on large capital expenditures, which in turn has negatively impacted medical devices industry. Additionally, hospitals may be delaying purchases until they better understand how their reimbursement may change under U.S. health reform measures being debated by Congress.
Wells Fargo analyst Michael Matson recently wrote in a report that one-third of hospitals have fiscal years that end in June, which may have tightened budgets toward the end of that month.
The company's first-quarter net income declined $28.14 million, or 72 cents per share, compared with $44.78 million, or 1.12 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. The company said that first quarter 2009 revenue deferral reduced net income by approximately $12.1 million, or $0.30 per share. The company's quarterly revenues slightly rose to $188.37 million from $188.19 million in the prior-year quarter. Consensus estimates were for earnings of $200.76 million for the quarter.
William Blair & Co. analyst Ben Andrew believes that the company would report that it had sold 67 daVinci systems during the three months ended in June. He expects the company to place 310 systems in total during FY2010.
Shares of the company are currently trading at roughly 29 times consensus 2010 EPS estimates. In terms of stock performance, Intuitive Surgical shares have gained 27% since the beginning of the year. On Wednesday, shares of the company rose $1.34 or 0.80% to close at $168.75 in afternoon trade.
Disclosure: Author doesn’t own any of the stocks mentioned here.
