Intuitive Surgical sinks after Deutsche Bank hits the stock with rare “sell” rating
Intuitive Surgical shares were down about 6% on Monday afternoon after Deutsche Bank gave the stock a rare “sell” rating. Analyst Imron Zafar downgraded it to “sell” from “hold” and lowered his price target to $440 from $515, as competition heats up.
Intuitive has long dominated robotic-assisted surgery thanks to its flagship da Vinci system, which has been used in more than 3 million procedures by over 50,000 surgeons since getting FDA approval in 2000.
But that dominance may be tested as Deutsche points to rising popularity for remanufactured surgical tools and new soft-tissue surgical robots being devloped by rivals Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson. While Zafar still sees strength in the da Vinci brand at large, he added that any shift toward lower-cost alternatives could eventually weigh on Intuitive’s top and bottom lines.
Currently, only Deutsche Bank and Morningstar Equity Research have “Sell” or “Underweight” ratings on the stock, according to FactSet. Still, the stock is up over 25% over the past year and has more than doubled since 2022.
Intuitive has long dominated robotic-assisted surgery thanks to its flagship da Vinci system, which has been used in more than 3 million procedures by over 50,000 surgeons since getting FDA approval in 2000.
But that dominance may be tested as Deutsche points to rising popularity for remanufactured surgical tools and new soft-tissue surgical robots being devloped by rivals Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson. While Zafar still sees strength in the da Vinci brand at large, he added that any shift toward lower-cost alternatives could eventually weigh on Intuitive’s top and bottom lines.
Currently, only Deutsche Bank and Morningstar Equity Research have “Sell” or “Underweight” ratings on the stock, according to FactSet. Still, the stock is up over 25% over the past year and has more than doubled since 2022.
