New York, Jan 16, 2026, 13:19 EST — Regular session
- ISRG shares were down about 0.9% in early afternoon trade
- Investors are still parsing Intuitive’s 2026 procedure-growth outlook, a key driver of recurring sales
- Next test is the Jan. 22 earnings call, when management is expected to add detail
Intuitive Surgical shares slid on Friday, extending a pullback that followed the company’s softer-than-expected outlook for growth in procedures on its flagship da Vinci surgical robots.
The stock was down 0.9% at $536.49 in early afternoon trading.
The near-term focus is procedure growth — the number of operations done using Intuitive’s systems — because it feeds demand for the company’s instruments and accessories, the higher-frequency part of its business.
That matters now because the company’s latest range for 2026 da Vinci procedure growth came in below what some investors had penciled in after a strong 2025, setting up next week’s earnings call as a referendum on momentum, pricing and hospital spending.
Intuitive said this week it expects fourth-quarter 2025 revenue of about $2.87 billion, up 19% from a year earlier, and 2025 revenue of about $10.06 billion, up 21%. It said worldwide procedures in the fourth quarter (da Vinci and Ion combined) rose about 18%, with da Vinci procedures up about 17%, and it forecast 2026 worldwide da Vinci procedures to rise about 13% to 15%. The company also disclosed 532 da Vinci system placements in the quarter, including 303 da Vinci 5 systems, and noted the figures are unaudited and subject to adjustment. Intuitive CEO Dave Rosa said, “We are pleased with our strong performance in the final quarter of 2025 and the full year.” (GlobeNewswire)
At the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, executives pointed to general surgery and “after-hours” cases as a driver of U.S. growth, and said da Vinci 5 is lifting utilization versus earlier models. “That’s really supporting the design intent,” Rosa said, describing higher utilization tied to efficiency gains. (MedTech Dive)
The guidance, not the quarter, set the tone. On Wednesday, the stock fell as investors weighed the 2026 range and the implication of slower growth from 2025 levels. Evercore ISI analyst Vijay Kumar wrote that most of the revenue beat looked tied to system sales, not recurring lines, and said: “The systems rev beat partly reflects higher (average sales prices) & a tad lower % of lease/usage-based placements…” (Investors)
Intuitive also lagged some medtech peers during the mid-week drop, with Medtronic and Stryker finishing higher on the day ISRG slid. (MarketWatch)
But there are risks in the setup. Procedure growth can wobble if hospitals slow capital spending, if staffing constraints bite, or if case volumes shift, and the company’s preliminary numbers can still move as audits close.
Investors’ next hard marker is Jan. 22, when Intuitive is scheduled to hold its quarterly earnings conference call. Traders will be listening for tighter detail on 2026 procedure trends, da Vinci 5 rollout pace and whether recurring instruments-and-accessories growth tracks the procedure outlook. (Intuitivesurgical)
