Intuitive Surgical Inc (ISRG) stock analysis
Intuitive Surgical Inc (ISRG) clears 1 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 5 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 2 of 5 Lynch-style checks. At $443.85 it trades 174.8% above this site's neutral DCF value (a margin of safety of -174.8%). Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns +1.0% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does Intuitive Surgical do?
Intuitive Surgical makes the da Vinci robotic surgery systems and sells the instruments and services used in each operation. Most of its revenue is recurring, from instruments, accessories and service.
Brands and businesses it owns
- da Vinci
- Ion
What stands out about Intuitive Surgical?
- The share price implies 34.5% yearly growth. At $443.85, ISRG's free cash flow of $9.46 per share would have to grow 34.5% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for more growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
- Misses 5 of the 8 value filters. It fails Trailing P/E < 25 (51.14), PEG Ratio < 1.5 (2.76) and Price/Book < 8 (9.38) and 2 more; the other 1 pass and 2 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- The margin of safety is falling. It went from -161% on Oct 7 to -175% on Oct 23 across 5 weekly readings. See the trend.
- Strongest against peers: debt / equity. At 0.00 (peer median 0.69) it ranks 1st of 34 among health care stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Weakest against peers: free-cash-flow yield. At 2.1% (peer median 5.5%) it ranks 33rd of 34 among health care stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
How has Intuitive Surgical's share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Intuitive Surgical undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) -174.8%
- P/E vs. its own history 51.1x · at/below its cheapest point Real range: 67.1x–81.3x over 5 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Buy · 4.03/5 40 analysts this month: 13 strong buy, 16 buy, 10 hold, 1 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub).
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) 12.06 · Safe zone
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · 1 watch Beneish M-score −2.43 · accruals −0.9% of assets · 104% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 7.8% of revenue · share count +0.7% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Dec 2025) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +1.0% net Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 0.0% + buybacks 1.5% − stock comp 0.5%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count rose 0%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) $4.05 per $1 of new profit · Capital-hungry Operating profit $1.1B → $2.4B, capital needed $1.1B → $6.3B, 2016–2025 (3-year averages); return on capital now 37% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 2.76 · Well above fair P/E 51.1× ÷ 18.5% a year of growth behind it. 317th lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 1 of 4 · misses capital-light, cash back, price Capital-light growth: not cleared ($4.05 of capital per $1 of new profit); Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: not cleared (+0.1% a year net); Fair price (PEG): not cleared (PEG 2.76, over 1.5). See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Value trap check Clear
- Munger's Inversion Check 2 flags
- Standing vs. sector peers 4 of 6 measures above the median Compared with the 33 other health care stocks this site tracks: 3 in the top third, 2 in the bottom third.
How does Intuitive Surgical compare with its peers?
4 of 6 measures sit above the median of the 33 other health care stocks tracked here, 3 in the top third and 2 in the bottom third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 24.6× 51.1× ✕29th of 32
- Free-cash-flow yieldhigher is cheaper · peer median 5.5% 2.1% ✕33rd of 34
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 15% 17% –13th of 34
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 9.3% 25.5% ✓3rd of 34
- Revenue growthhigher is better, year on year · peer median 8.6% 20.4% ✓2nd of 34
- Debt / equitylower is safer · peer median 0.69 0.00 ✓1st of 34
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and ISRG doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: ISRG is currently earning a strong return on shareholders' equity, and has kept that profitability up over five years, not just this year, carries a conservative amount of debt relative to equity, converts sales into profit at healthy margins, and has grown earnings per share at a solid clip over five years. Where it comes up short: ISRG doesn't cover its interest expense as comfortably as he'd want, is trading above what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth right now, and trades rich relative to owner earnings, the real cash the business could pay out.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✓
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✓
- Pretax margin > 15% ✓
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✓
- Interest coverage > 5x ✕
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✕
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✕
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2025
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and ISRG falls short of his bar. In its favor: ISRG is growing at the modest, GDP-ish pace typical of a slow grower, and isn't over-leveraged for a company of its type. Where it comes up short: ISRG doesn't pay much of a dividend, which is the main reason to own a slow grower in the first place, is priced too rich for how little growth is actually left in the business, and trades expensive relative to the cash it actually generates.
- Dividend yield > 2.5% ✕
- EPS growth 0%-10% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.6 ✓
- P/E < 20 ✕
- Price/FCF < 25 ✕
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does Intuitive Surgical pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $151.2B
- Trailing P/E < 25 51.14
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 2.76
- Price/Book < 8 9.38
- Price/Sales < 7 13.06
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% -23.6%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is Intuitive Surgical's margin of safety?
-161% on 2026-10-07 → -175% on 2026-10-23 (5 weekly readings).
Where is Intuitive Surgical in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Intuitive Surgical?
7,411,662 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with Intuitive Surgical? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case -62%
- Short interest under 5% of float 2.1%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 1/6 passed
- Price run-up backed by value, not just momentum +33% off 52wk low
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Intuitive Surgical shareholders gained per year?
Earnings growth per share plus dividend.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from ISRG's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do Intuitive Surgical's 10-year financials show?
From ISRG's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about Intuitive Surgical
What kind of company is Intuitive Surgical?
Intuitive Surgical makes the da Vinci robotic surgery systems and sells the instruments and services used in each operation. Most of its revenue is recurring, from instruments, accessories and service. Brands and businesses it owns include da Vinci and Ion. This site groups it with Health Care stocks.
Is Intuitive Surgical trading above or below its DCF value?
At $443.85, ISRG trades 174.8% above this site's neutral DCF value of $161.49 per share, a margin of safety of −174.8%. That DCF projects free cash flow for 10 years, with growth starting at 8% and fading to 2.5%, discounted at 10%; it is one set of assumptions, not a forecast. Test your own in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does Intuitive Surgical pass?
ISRG passes 1 of 8. It passes Market Cap > $25B ($151.2B). It misses Trailing P/E < 25 (51.14), PEG Ratio < 1.5 (2.76), Price/Book < 8 (9.38), Price/Sales < 7 (13.06) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (-23.6%). vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
Are Intuitive Surgical's reported earnings reliable?
This site's earnings-quality check rates ISRG Strong · 1 watch. Beneish M-score −2.43 · accruals −0.9% of assets · 104% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 7.8% of revenue · share count +0.7% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Dec 2025). Concerns: stock-based compensation (on watch). The five checks are the Beneish M-score (manipulation risk), accruals, cash conversion, stock-based compensation and share dilution; the Earnings Quality Screener shows how each is graded.
How fast has Intuitive Surgical grown its revenue and profit?
From fiscal 2016 to fiscal 2025, ISRG's revenue grew from $2.7 billion to $10.1 billion, 15.7% a year. Net income went from $738 million to $2.9 billion, and its net profit margin from 27.3% to 28.4%. Earnings per share went from $2.09 to $7.87 on today's share count, 15.9% a year. In fiscal 2025 it produced $2.5 billion of free cash flow (cash from operations minus capital spending), 24.7% of its revenue. All figures are from ISRG's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR) and are shown year by year in the 10-Year Financials section of the card above.
Is Intuitive Surgical's P/E ratio high or low compared with its own history?
ISRG trades at 51.1× trailing earnings. At the end of each of its last 5 fiscal years its P/E was between 67.1× and 81.3× (average 74.0×), so today's multiple is at or below the lowest of those years. Each year's P/E pairs net income per diluted share from the 10-K with the closing price at that fiscal year-end.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Intuitive Surgical's 10-K annual report for the year ended Dec 31, 2025, filed Feb 3, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this Intuitive Surgical Inc analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Intuitive Surgical Inc (ISRG) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.