Intuitive Surgical’s Second Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, July 19, 2012. Intuitive Surgical designs and manufactures da Vinci Surgical Systems, EndoWrist instruments and other surgical accessories.

Intuitive Surgical Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for profit of $3.52 per share, a rise of 21% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. The average estimate is the same as three months ago. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved up. It has dropped from $3.53 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 19.4% compared to last year’s $14.71.

Past Earnings Performance: The company has beaten estimates the last four quarters and is coming off a quarter where it topped forecasts by 35 cents, reporting net income of $3.50 per share against a mean estimate of profit of $3.15 per share.

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A Look Back: In the first quarter, profit rose 37.8% to $143.5 million ($3.50 a share) from $104.1 million ($2.59 a share) the year earlier, exceeding analyst expectations. Revenue rose 27.6% to $495.2 million from $388.1 million.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts predict a rise of 22.9% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $523 million.

Stock Price Performance: Between April 18, 2012 and July 13, 2012, the stock price fell $44.48 (-7.6%), from $584.52 to $540.04. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between January 10, 2012 and January 19, 2012, when shares rose for seven straight days, increasing 5.4% (+$24.46) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between November 15, 2011 and November 25, 2011 when shares fell for eight straight days, dropping 7.9% (-$35.51) over that span.

Key Stats:

The company enters this earnings announcement with substantial revenue momentum. The company has averaged year-over-year revenue growth of 26.6% over the last four quarters.

After experiencing income increases the last three quarters, the company is hoping to keep the good news coming with this earnings announcement. Net income rose 41.3% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year and 24.8% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year before increasing again in the first quarter.

Balance Sheet Analysis: The company’s current ratio of assets to liabilities came in at 6.88 last quarter. Having a ratio above 2:1 is usually considered a good indicator of a company’s liquidity and ability to meet creditor demands. The company improved this liquidity measure from 4.57 in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year to the last quarter driven in part by an increase in current assets. Current assets increased 90.2% to $2.79 billion while liabilities rose by 26.5% to $405.6 million.

Analyst Ratings: There are mostly holds on the stock with eight of 13 analysts surveyed giving that rating.

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(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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