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ISRG · Analysis updated Nov 10, 2026, 6:00 PM ET
Why is Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) stock moving?
Intuitive reported strong Q3 2026 results on Oct 20: revenue up 22% to $3.05B, procedures up about 15%, da Vinci placements of 546 versus 427 a year earlier (315 of them da Vinci 5), and an installed base of 12,094 systems. GAAP EPS of $1.49 absorbed a $450M antitrust settlement charge, but non-GAAP EPS rose to $3.00 from $2.40, and the company bought back 7.8M shares for $2.94B. Since then the stock has traded between about $431 and $485. It hit a high of $485.85 on Nov 4 on the window's largest volume (4.83M shares) after BofA and BMO sent Buy ratings with raised targets of $500 and $518. It has since slipped back to $450.04 on Nov 10, with volume tapering. Analyst targets are split: BofA and BMO are above the price, while HSBC ($392) and Evercore ($375, cut from $385 on Oct 28) sit below it. Other news is routine or supportive: the Aaron Martin board appointment, a routine insider option exercise and sale, the IEEE milestone, and Apollo's da Vinci 5 adoption. Net, the fundamental picture is constructive, but near-term direction is mixed after the early-November spike.
News behind the analysis
- Intuitive Announces Third Quarter EarningsQ3 2026 revenue rose 22% to $3.05B and worldwide procedures grew about 15%, with 546 da Vinci placements. GAAP EPS of $1.49 included a $450M antitrust settlement charge, while non-GAAP EPS was $3.00.
- BofA Securities Maintains Intuitive Surgical With Buy Rating, Raises Price Target to $500BofA reaffirmed its Buy rating on ISRG and raised its price target from $470 to $500.
- BMO Capital Maintains Buy Rating and $518 Price Target on Intuitive SurgicalBMO Capital analyst Vik Chopra reaffirmed a Buy rating and a $518 price target on ISRG.
- Intuitive Appoints Aaron Martin to Board of DirectorsHumana executive Aaron Martin joins the ISRG board effective January 1, 2027, expanding the board from 10 to 11 members.
- IEEE Designates First Robotic Telepresence Surgery System as an IEEE MilestoneThe IEEE recognized the telepresence surgery system licensed to Intuitive, which became the da Vinci Surgical System, as an IEEE Milestone.
- HSBC Adjusts Price Target on Intuitive Surgical to $392 From $391HSBC nudged its ISRG price target up by $1 to $392, which remains well below the recent share price.
- Intuitive Surgical Executive Fredrik Widman Executes Stock Options and Sells SharesCorporate Vice President and Financial Controller Fredrik Widman exercised options and sold 5,448 shares.
- Apollo Hospitals Adopts Intuitive's Da Vinci 5 Surgical SystemApollo Hospitals in Bengaluru, India, introduced the da Vinci 5 system, a sign of continued international adoption.
- Evercore ISI Adjusts Intuitive Surgical Price Target to $375 From $385Evercore ISI lowered its ISRG price target from $385 to $375.
About Intuitive Surgical Inc.
Intuitive Surgical, based in Sunnyvale, California, makes the da Vinci robotic surgery systems and the Ion robotic system used for lung biopsies. It pioneered robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery and leads the field by a wide margin, with roughly 12,100 da Vinci and 1,150 Ion systems installed worldwide as of September 2026.
How it makes money
Most of its revenue repeats. Every procedure uses single-use instruments and accessories, which brought in about $1.8 billion of roughly $3.05 billion in revenue in Q3 2026 (around 60%). The rest comes from selling or leasing the robots themselves and from service contracts on the installed systems. Because so many systems are already in hospitals, sales tend to rise as more procedures are performed.
What usually moves ISRG
- Growth in procedure volumes (da Vinci and Ion)
- Placements and adoption of the new da Vinci 5 system
- Hospital spending on equipment and the interest-rate environment
- Competition from new surgical robots and pressure on certain procedures, such as bariatric surgery from GLP-1 weight-loss drugs
- Tariffs and gross-margin trends