Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) shares have gained 30.9% in three months, including a 9.4% jump on November 4, while the S&P 500 barely moved. The stock still sits 18.7% below its January high. Buyers now pay 56.9 times trailing twelve-month earnings, up from 48.0 at the end of September and above the S&P 500's 22.8. Those earnings include a $450 million third-quarter litigation settlement. Management said 84% of third-quarter revenue was recurring. Analysts expect about $3.3 billion in fourth-quarter 2026 revenue, roughly 15% growth from $2.87 billion a year earlier. Management expects da Vinci procedures to grow 14% to 15% in 2026, with price cuts in China coming in the fourth quarter. The company is expected to report in January 2027.

Intuitive Surgical stock trades at 51.6 times earnings, the highest multiple among six health care peers, even after the shares fell 17.6% from their October 30, 2025 close. That was the worst return of the six. Investors appear to pay for profit. Intuitive kept 32.3% of revenue as operating profit, against 21.4% at Globus Medical, whose revenue grew 19.7% to Intuitive's 20.5%. Globus trades at 20.0 times earnings. Recurring revenue made up 84% of fiscal Q3 2026 revenue. Da Vinci procedures grew 14%, with 10% growth in the US against 20% elsewhere. Planned price cuts should lower instrument revenue per procedure by about 3% to 5%. A $450 million litigation settlement cut quarterly net income to $523 million from $818 million, lifting the multiple. Full-year 2026 procedure growth, due in January 2027, is the figure to watch.

Intuitive, the maker of robotic surgery systems, has appointed Aaron Martin to its board of directors, effective January 1, 2027. Martin is president of insurance at Humana. His arrival expands the board from 10 to 11 members. Martin spent almost four years at Amazon as vice president of healthcare, where he launched Amazon Clinic, the company's first message and video-based telehealth platform. Before that, he was chief digital officer at Providence St. Joseph Health, a $26 billion not-for-profit health system. There he founded Providence Ventures, a $300 million corporate venture fund with 27 portfolio companies. Chief executive officer Dave Rosa said Martin's experience will help Intuitive expand access to minimally invasive care globally.