Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) shares slipped on weaker demand for bariatric surgeries during the second quarter despite outperforming the Street’s expectations on profit and sales.
The company, which develops and manufactures robotic surgery solutions aimed at improving clinical outcomes, told investors on Thursday that it had seen waning demand for robot-assisted bariatric surgeries amid the rising popularity of obesity drugs, sending its shares lower.
“Within one of our target procedure areas, bariatric surgery, our growth rate in the U.S. slowed during the quarter,” Intuitive CFO Jamie Samath said on the company’s earnings call.
“Some customers have indicated that they are seeing increased patient interest in weight loss drugs. It is too early to conclude if the slowing growth is a temporary pause as patients evaluate these new drug therapies or if it is a trend that continues.”
During the quarter, procedures involving Intuitive's da Vinci surgical robot rose 22% year-over-year, below expectations of 23% to 24%.
Intuitive reported a profit of $421 million or earnings per share (EPS) of $1.18, compared to $308 million or EPS of $0.85 in the year-ago quarter.
Excluding items, the company earned $1.42 per share, exceeding the consensus analyst expectation of $1.33.
Revenue increased 15% year-over-year from $1.52 billion to $1.76 billion, above the Street's expectation of $1.74 billion.
Intuitive shares were down 2.2% at US$340.08 on Friday morning.
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