Intuitive Surgery's plunge after earnings report sparks debate over medical technology demand
Surgical robot company Intuitive Surgery announced its second-quarter financial results after the market closed on Thursday. Both revenue and profit exceeded expectations. However, the company maintained its full-year surgical volume growth outlook unchanged and warned that changes in U.S. health insurance policies may affect patients' timing of medical treatment, triggering market concerns about the demand for medical technology. The stock price fell by more than 12% before the market opened. The financial report showed that second-quarter revenue increased 19% year-on-year to US$2.89 billion, exceeding analysts’ expectations of US$2.82 billion; adjusted earnings per share was US$2.80, far exceeding the expected US$2.51. The global surgeries on the da Vinci and Ion platforms combined increased by 16%, of which the surgeries on da Vinci increased by 15% and the surgeries on Ion increased by 36%. However, the slowdown in the U.S. market has raised concerns. In the second quarter, the volume of da Vinci surgeries in the United States increased by 12%, which was lower than the company's expectations at the beginning of the year, mainly in the category of deferrable surgeries. CEO Dave Rosa said on the earnings call that some customers have reported that changes in patient insurance coverage and premiums may affect their choice of medical treatment and treatment timing. The company believes that the expiration of ACA subsidies had a "moderate negative impact" on the growth of da Vinci surgery volume in the United States in the second quarter. Evercore ISI analysts pointed out that the growth rate of Intuitive Surgery's U.S. surgery volume was the slowest in three years, rekindling market discussions on the impact of ACA policy. Previously, medical device manufacturers It was once believed that the substantial impact of the decline in the number of ACA enrollees on the industry was a "wrong assumption," but Intuitive Surgery's cautious stance has heated up this debate again. The company maintains its outlook for da Vinci surgery volume to grow by 13.5% to 15.5% for the full year of 2026, with the growth rate expected to be close to the midpoint of the range. This guidance means that growth will slow down in the second half of the year. Increasing competition is also a concern. As it seeks to expand the indications for its Hugo surgical system, Stryker this week also launched the Mako robotic system for total knee replacements.