Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) has been one of the year’s most punished large-cap healthcare names.
The maker of the da Vinci surgical robot has watched its stock fall about 28% in 2026, even as revenue keeps climbing.
Analysts have piled on. Deutsche Bank slashed its target. Bank of America trimmed its own. The mood around the stock turned sour fast.
Much of the worry traces back to a single May announcement about how long Intuitive’s surgical tools can be reused.
Then Goldman Sachs stepped in and told investors that their fear is misplaced.
Goldman Sachs reiterates its Buy rating on Intuitive Surgical
Goldman Sachs kept its Buy rating on Intuitive Surgical and a 12-month price target of $558 in a June 15 research note from analyst David Roman.
That target sat about 36% above where the stock closed on June 12, a bold stance at a moment when much of Wall Street was moving the other way.
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The call cuts against a clear bearish tide.
CNBC data shows Deutsche Bank dropped its target to $366 and Bank of America cut its own to $515 within the past few weeks.
Goldman’s view is that investors are misreading Intuitive’s May 21 update, which involves over 100 enhancements for the da Vinci 5 robotic system, according to Investing.com, as a threat to its most important revenue line.
What Intuitive’s instrument changes actually mean for revenue
The update covered two changes, and Goldman argues that the market blurred them together.
The first involves Force Feedback instruments, which let surgeons feel the push and pull on tissue through the console controls, according to an article on Intuitive’s Newsroom.
Intuitive said five of its six Force Feedback tools now last up to 15 uses, up from six, GlobNewswire reported.
That change carries no impact on revenue per case. It simply lets more hospitals adopt a tool that Intuitive could not supply at scale.
The second change targets older core instruments, where Intuitive plans to raise the number of uses in 2027 to lower hospital costs.
That one does trim instruments and accessories revenue, the recurring money Intuitive collects each time a hospital uses its tools. The segment brought in $1.69 billion last quarter, a 23% jump, according to its SEC release.
Why Goldman thinks the sell-off misreads the story
The stock’s 28% slide this year, reported in a Simply Wall St article on Yahoo Finance, stems partly from a fear that Goldman thinks is overblown.
Some investors read the May move as a defensive swipe at firms that refurbish and resell used da Vinci instruments, such as Restore Robotics.
Goldman disagrees, noting that Intuitive has extended instrument life repeatedly for years, long before refurbishers became a talking point.
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Precedent helps. Intuitive’s 2020 Extended Use Program raised some core instruments from 10 uses to between 12 and 18.
It warned then of a 7% cut to revenue per procedure. The actual drop landed near 2% before returning to growth.
Goldman expects a repeat, with higher-priced Force Feedback tools and advanced instruments offsetting the cheaper core tools.
The bank still models a modest 1% annual decline in U.S. revenue per procedure, with estimates unchanged.
What still has to go right for ISRG stock
A few things need to go Intuitive’s way before the stock can reach Goldman’s target.
Four factors investors should track:
- July earnings call: Intuitive is expected to detail the core-instrument changes on its second-quarter call, which would remove a key unknown for the stock.
- Competition: Medtronic’s Hugo system and Johnson & Johnson’s planned OTTAVA robot are pushing harder into robotic surgery.
- GLP-1 pressure: Bariatric surgery volumes fell about 10% as weight-loss drugs cut demand, The Motley Fool reported.
- Valuation: The stock still trades at a premium, leaving little room for a miss.
A new Force Feedback cardiac trial, reported by TipRanks, could widen Intuitive’s lead if the results land well.
The fundamentals underneath remain strong.
Intuitive grew first-quarter revenue 23% to $2.77 billion, with da Vinci procedures up 16% and 847,000 procedures performed, according to a recent SEC filing.
For investors, the takeaway is straightforward.
Goldman’s call rewards patience over panic, but Intuitive Surgical’s July earnings report is the real test of whether the instrument fears are valid or not.
