Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) is set to report earnings after the close on Thursday. Shares closed at $235.00 Wednesday, down from a 52-week high of $359.59 and down from a December 31 close of $323.00.
First Call has estimates at $1.04 EPS on $175.9 million in revenues. As far as Q1-2008, estimates are $0.98 EPS on $172.6 million revenues. Its fiscal-2008 estimates are $4.70 EPS on $811.1 million in revenues, representing an estimated 34% earnings per share growth and 38% revenue growth for 2008.
While everyone will be focused on Google earnings, this is at a critical juncture as a stock. Intuitive Surgical makes the da Vinci surgical system for urologic, cardiothoracic, gynecologic, and general surgeries. The problem is that the stock is up almost twenty-fold over the last five-years and we just saw another quasi-robotic medical products competitor get crushed last night.
The short interest for mid-January fell slightly to 1.915 million shares. If options are any accurate guide, this stock could easily see a move of $22 or more in either direction after earnings. Analysts still have an average price target north of $320 on Intuitive Surgical. The company closed out Wednesday with a 50 forward P/E ratio, so Wall Street is going to keep demands high for the company in an environment where investors want more safety.
Jon C. Ogg
January 30, 2008
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