Intuitive Surgical (ISRG 2.49%) is a very particular kind of stock. It pays no dividend, so income investors won't appreciate today's investment opportunity. It isn't cheap, so value investors will not like it either. It is a growth stock, most appropriate for those with a more aggressive streak.
The opportunity today is Intuitive Surgical's roughly 30% decline in stock price since the start of 2026. Here's why this drawdown may be a rare buying opportunity for this top surgical robotics stock.
Image source: Getty Images.
What does Intuitive Surgical do?
Intuitive Surgical makes the da Vinci surgical robot system. At the end of the first quarter of 2026, there were 11,395 systems in place around the world, up 12% from the first quarter of the previous year. Simply put, despite the stock decline, the medical device maker's product continues to sell well.
However, there's a second measure that's worth considering. The number of procedures using a da Vinci system increased 17% year over year. That means that more and more surgeries are being performed with a da Vinci robot. So patient demand is strong, as well.
These trends will ebb and flow from quarter to quarter. However, the big picture is very clear. Intuitive Surgical's business is fundamentally sound. This is why investors are willing to pay a premium for the stock. Its price-to-earnings ratio is a lofty 51x, a figure that will only interest more aggressive growth investors. That said, the P/E is well below its five-year average of 70x.
NASDAQ: ISRG
Key Data Points
The opportunity isn't in the sale of Intuitive Surgical's robots
What's interesting here, however, is that Intuitive Surgical generates only about 25% of its revenue from da Vinci system sales. The rest comes from what amounts to parts (instruments and accessories) and services. That is the flywheel of the business, and given the demand for robotic surgery, it is an annuity-like revenue stream. That revenue stream grows more attractive with each new da Vinci installation. This isn't just a fundamentally sound business; it is a strong business. And the da Vinci system continues to evolve, gaining regulatory approval for use in more and more types of surgery. That offers another avenue for long-term growth.
And yet the stock has fallen 30% in a very short period of time. Growth investors need to step back and put that drop into perspective. As the chart below highlights, this healthcare company's stock has declined by at least 30% eight times since its initial public offering. It recovered after each drop and went on to post new highs. While there's no way to know if that will happen this time, and some of the drops went well beyond 30%, if history is any guide, this drawdown will be temporary.
Stepping in while Intuitive Surgical's shares appear to be in free fall won't be easy. It requires a great deal of faith in the business's underlying strength. But the sale of new systems remains robust, and parts and services revenue is driven by the still strong demand among patients for robotic surgery. Even if sales of new da Vinci systems slow, the large installed base will still generate significant revenue for the company.
Nothing has changed about Intuitive Surgical, but investor perception
Intuitive Surgical's business isn't likely to fall off a cliff, which means this drawdown could be another temporary blip in the stock's long-term uptrend. Such drawdowns have happened before, but they aren't exactly everyday events. Which is why more aggressive growth investors may want to take advantage of what appears to be a rare buying opportunity in this top robotic surgery stock.
