Intuitive Surgical (ISRG)
A Pullback Worth Buying as Robotic Surgery Demand Accelerates
Intuitive Surgical has quietly entered one of its most interesting setups in years. The stock trades around $549, but what stands out isn’t the price — it’s the combination of long-term demand, recurring revenue strength, and a fresh rebound from a classic growth-stock drawdown.
Intuitive is well known for its da Vinci robotic surgery platform, and the latest quarterly numbers show that demand hasn’t slowed at all. In the third quarter of 2025, the company installed 427 systems, up from 329 a year earlier. That’s now 10,763 da Vinci robots operating globally, each one acting like a long-term subscription engine. Only about 25% of revenue comes from selling the machines themselves — the real power is in the steady stream of instruments, accessories, and services that follow every installation.
The recent pullback, roughly a 30% drawdown, isn’t unusual for this stock. In fact, Intuitive has gone through eight major declines of similar size since going public, and each one has historically set the stage for a new leg higher. With procedures still up 20% year over year, despite the installed base rising 13%, the company is proving it can expand utilization even faster than hardware growth.
What’s especially intriguing now is how AI could amplify all of this. Intuitive is already integrating AI into smaller parts of its platform, and the long-term opportunity is much bigger. Robotic surgery already enables more precise, minimally invasive procedures — and unlike a traditional setup, it doesn’t require the surgeon to be in the same room. AI-supported (and eventually AI-assisted or AI-driven) procedures open the door to meaningfully higher procedure volumes over time. That’s a direct multiplier for Intuitive’s high-margin recurring revenue.
The stock’s long-term pattern is clear: drawdowns tend to create the next buying opportunity. With installations growing, procedures accelerating, and AI adding a new layer of future upside, Intuitive Surgical looks well-positioned for another substantial run from current levels.
If the company executes anywhere close to its historical rhythm, this could easily be one of the next major winners in high-tech healthcare — with a realistic path toward 50% upside over the long term.
