Intuitive Surgical shares tumble 28% over instrument lifespan changes

Intuitive Surgical's stock has dropped about 28% this year, prompting analysts at Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC to downgrade the shares after the company's first‑quarter earnings. Goldman Sachs, however, raised its price target, arguing that investors are over‑reacting to two recent changes in the company's instrument usage policies. The firm extended the allowable uses of five of its six force‑feedback tools from six to 15 procedures and plans to increase the maximum uses of older standard instruments, moves that are expected to have little impact on per‑procedure revenue while potentially boosting adoption and customer loyalty.

In the first quarter, Intuitive Surgical posted revenue of $2.77 billion, up 23% year‑over‑year, and a net margin of 28.15%. The company performed 847,000 procedures, a 16% increase, and its da Vinci surgical system installed base grew 12% to 11,395 systems. The stock opened the week at $426.01, sits between a 52‑week low of $396.68 and a high of $603.88, and carries a market‑cap of about $150.9 billion.

Separately, Simplify Asset Management trimmed its holding in Intuitive Surgical by 27% to roughly 10,800 shares valued at $4.96 million. Other institutional investors such as State Street, Capital World, Norges Bank, Invesco and Wellington Management either increased or maintained sizable positions, with hedge funds now owning about 83.6% of the company's outstanding stock.