Intuitive Surgical Inc.
ISRG, +0.19%
said its fourth-quarter earnings rose 29% amid continued growth in the use of its da Vinci robotic systems for minimally invasive surgery.
The Sunnyvale, Calif., company’s shares rose 2.4% to $568.75 in recent after-hours trading as per-share earnings, excluding certain one-time items, beat expectations.
The company had released preliminary sales results ahead of its presentation at an industry conference last week.
Chief Executive Gary Guthart said the results reflect expanded use of the company’s products in general surgery and international markets.
Overall, Intuitive Surgical reported a profit of $190 million, or $4.99 a share, up from $146.8 million, or $3.94 a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, per-share earnings rose to $5.89 from $4.92. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of $5.04.
Revenue increased 12% to $676.5 million, mostly in line with the company’s estimate of $677 million.
Gross margin rose to 67.8% from 65.1%.
Intuitive Surgical said instrument and accessory revenue increased 16% to $325.6 million, mostly driven by roughly 15% growth in procedures using its da Vinci surgical system.
The company said it shipped 158 da Vinci systems during the fourth quarter, compared with 137 a year earlier. Systems revenue increased about 7.8% to $230.7 million.
Separately, Intuitive Surgical and a unit of Hill-Rom Holdings Inc.
HRC, +1.72%
said their operating-room table, designed to move in sync with the da Vinci system, received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/intuitive-surgical-profit-rises-29-2016-01-21