Why Intuitive Surgical Stock Dropped Today
Key Points
Intuitive pre-announced sales results for Q4 today -- and growth is slowing down.
Full-year and Q4 earnings results won't come out for another week.
- 10 stocks we like better than Intuitive Surgical ›
Intuitive (NASDAQ: ISRG) stock (the robotic surgery company formerly known as "Intuitive Surgical") tumbled 5.8% through 11 a.m. ET Wednesday despite pre-announcing a sales beat ahead of official Q4 earnings.
Analysts expect Intuitive to report $2.7 billion in quarterly sales, but Intuitive says its sales should end up closer to $2.9 billion.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now, when you join Stock Advisor. See the stocks »
Image source: Getty Images.
Intuitive Q4 sales (and earnings?)
The number of surgical procedures performed with Intuitive da Vinci and Ion bronchoscopy robots grew 18% in Q4, with Ion showing the stronger growth -- up 44% year over year.
That's good news, but for all of 2025, procedure growth was 19%; an 18% increase in the quarter was actually a slowdown. Worse, management forecasts worldwide procedure growth in 2026 to slow further to 13% to 15% growth.
In revenue terms, Intuitive grew 19% in Q4 2025 and 21% for all of 2025.
It's not all bad news. "Placements" of da Vinci robots at hospitals grew only 8% in Q4 and 13% for the year. On the one hand, that makes the slowdown in growth rates even more obvious. On the other hand, procedure growth is still outpacing robot placements -- so the popularity of da Vinci use in surgery is still increasing rapidly.
Is Intuitive stock a buy?
CEO Dave Rosa characterized his company's results as "strong" both for the quarter and the year.
We just won't know how strong Intuitive's earnings were for another week. The official report is due out on Jan. 22, and analysts are expecting Intuitive to report a pro forma per-share profit of $2.25, but only $1.95 per share, GAAP.
That would make GAAP profit for the year $7.48, giving Intuitive a P/E ratio of 71. Even for a great company like this one, with growth slowing, that's a high price to pay.
Should you buy stock in Intuitive Surgical right now?
Before you buy stock in Intuitive Surgical, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Intuitive Surgical wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $487,089!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,139,053!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 970% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 197% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of January 14, 2026.
Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Intuitive Surgical. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Recommended Articles
