Could Buying This Healthcare Stock Today Set You Up for Life? (Spoiler: It Certainly Could, As It Has Averaged Annual Gains of 21% Over the Past Decade.)

Who wouldn't want a stock that could set you up for life? I sure would want one -- or a dozen. The problem is, it's not that easy -- or even possible -- to pinpoint which stocks will be the best performers going forward. Still, by studying a company's business and its performance, you can get a good idea.

So here's my recommendation: Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG), the giant in the world of robotic surgical systems. It recently sported a market value near $163 billion. While it doesn't pay a dividend at this point (presumably because it's plowing all available dollars into furthering its growth), it has repurchased (and retired) shares now and then, which rewards shareholders by leaving each remaining share worth more.

Image source: Getty Images.

An introduction to Intuitive Surgical

Here are some numbers the company shares on its website:

• Over 20.4 million patients globally receiving procedures with Intuitive systems
• 70-plus countries using Intuitive systems
• 12,000-plus Intuitive systems installed around the world

The company's last earnings report, for its fourth quarter, featured:

• Procedures performed with both the da Vinci and Ion systems grew by 18% year over year. (Ion procedures grew by about 44%.)
• Nearly 600 systems were installed in the quarter.
• Revenue grew by 19% year over year, to $2.9 billion.

Impressive, right? Here's how the stock has performed:

Source: Data from Morningstar.com as of April 15, 2026.

Can Intuitive Surgical set you up for life?

I think it could. We shouldn't assume that it will average growth of 20% or even 15% annually for decades, but let's see what happens if it grows at, say, 12%. If you invest $1,000 monthly and it grows by 12% over 20 years, you'll end up with... $864,629! That's pretty good and could be all you need for your retirement, especially if you're also primed to collect a respectable Social Security benefit and perhaps some dividend income from other stocks.

(Note that in 10 or 20 years, Intuitive may have grown so large and profitable that it starts paying a dividend of its own.)

Over 25 years, your $1,000 monthly investments would amount to $1,600,000. Now we're cooking, right?

Should you invest in Intuitive Surgical?

Here's where things get tricky -- because the stock isn't exactly cheap these days. It traded at a recent forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 46, which is rather high. But it's lower than the five-year average of 57. The steep price-to-sales ratio, recently 16.5, is also below the five-year average of 18.4. So while shares aren't steep, they're trading for less than they often do.

I certainly wouldn't buy if you only plan to hold a short while. But if you aim to hang on for many years, buying Intuitive Surgical now could turn out well. If you're on the fence, you might just build a position in the stock over time, buying in increments.

Remember, too, that this isn't the only exciting growth stock around.

Selena Maranjian has positions in Intuitive Surgical. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Intuitive Surgical. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2028 $520 calls on Intuitive Surgical and short January 2028 $530 calls on Intuitive Surgical. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.