Intuitive Surgical Stock Rises 6% After First-quarter Earnings Beat

Intuitive Surgical Inc. shares rose in heavy morning trade Wednesday, after the company posted better-than-expected first-quarter results late Tuesday. Shares were most recently up by 6.5% at $808.06. The company's 2017 guidance for surgical procedures with its da Vinci surgical system was "higher than we anticipated," said Raymond James analyst Lawrence Keusch. He also said, "we see ISRG as a long-term structural growth story with an expanding technology platform driving global adoption." Though the company said that its first quarter may have benefited from trends that won't continue, such as an uptick in procedures prompted by concerns about the Affordable Care Act being repealed, "ISRG is clearly demonstrating momentum across multiple geographies, multiple indications, and platforms," said Stifel analyst Rick Wise. Both Raymond James' Keusch and Stifel's Wise expressed optimism about the company's newly announced da Vinci X system, though "limited details were provided," Wise said. "To us, da Vinci X represents the first visible and highly intriguing response to impending, potentially lower-cost capital-robotic competition from MDT and JNJ among others." Intuitive Surgical shares have surged 23.6% over the last three months, compared with a 3.9% rise in the S&P 500 .