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Signal Ledger valuation · ISRG

Intuitive Surgical Inc

What the shares are worth today on our research (cited consensus, company plans and peers, since management sets no usable targets): every line valued at the end of FY2030, net debt rolled forward, then discounted back to Sep 30, 2026.

Signal Ledger valuation$232.26−48% vs $443.85
Business value at FY2030
$89B
FY2030 revenue
$18B
FY2030 EPS · P/E
$15.86 · 20×
Discount rate (WACC · equity)
9.87% · 9.87%

How this is built. Use cited FactSet FY2030 revenue consensus and GAAP operating margin with rule-default improvement because management gives procedure and near-term gross-margin guidance, not a FY2030 sales/EBIT target. Each input below shows its basis: consensus, company plan, peer or rule.

Researched Oct 23, 2026 from SEC filing 0001035267-26-000071 · price $443.85 at research time · Valuation methodology

Latest quarter in this research: Q3 2026

Reported Oct 20, 2026 for the quarter to Sep 30, 2026 (company release ↗). This valuation already reflects these results (researched Oct 23, 2026).

Revenue$3.05B
Operating income$0.59B19.4% margin
Net income$0.52B
Diluted EPS$1.49
SegmentRevenuevs a year agoOperating incomeMargin
Intuitive (single reportable segment)$3.05B+22%$0.59B19.4%
  • da Vinci procedures+14%, Ion+31%; placements 546 da Vinci systems including 315 da Vinci 5.
  • GAAP operating income 592.6M includes 450M antitrust settlement charge; adjusted operating income 1.27B excludes SBC and other items.
  • Instruments/accessories 1.7974B, systems 0.7691B, services 0.4822B add to 3.0487B.
  • Results published 16:05EDT today and verified after 18:28EDT; price remains the desk quote fromOctober 20, not an assumed after-hours price.

What each business is worth

BusinessModelFY2030 revenueValue todayPer share2030 multipleValue from beyond FY2030
Robotic surgery ecosystemMargin$18B$74B$213.0214.6× EBIT63%
Noncurrent available-for-sale treasury, agency and corporate debt securitiesSeptember 30 Note 3 fair value: Treasury 2.3333B + corporate debt.4129B + agency.0117B =2.7579B. Separate from 4.0425B cash/current investments; interest and other income is below GAAP operating income. No growth, second cash inclusion or maturity uplift.Market mark—$2.8B$7.96——
Businesses and holdings$18B$77B$220.98

From 2030 back to today

  1. Enterprise value at end of FY2030$89B
  2. Plus net cash at FY2030$22B
  3. Equity value at FY2030$112B
  4. ÷ (1 + 9.87%)^4.3 years at the cost of equity$75B
  5. + dividends paid on the way, discounted$0B
  6. + investments held outside the businesses$2.8B

This reconciliation checks the published Signal Ledger valuation against the net-debt path. The difference is 3.4%, inside our 5% tolerance.

From businesses to one share

  1. All businesses, valued today$74B
  2. − borrowings$0B
  3. − finance leases$0B
  4. − preferred and minority claims$0.1B
  5. + cash and short-term investments$4B
  6. + investments held outside the businesses$2.8B
  7. ÷ diluted shares0.347B
  8. Signal Ledger valuation$232.26

Year by year to FY2030

Fiscal yearRevenueEBITDACapexFree cash flowNet debt at year end
FY2026$12B$4.3B$0.7B$2.9B$4.7B cash
FY2027$14B$4.9B$0.8B$3.3B$8.1B cash
FY2028$15B$5.6B$0.9B$3.8B$12B cash
FY2029$17B$6.4B$1B$4.4B$17B cash
FY2030$18B$7.2B$1.1B$5B$22B cash

What must be true

  • Robotic surgery ecosystem grows revenue from $12.2B in FY2026 to $18.4B in FY2030 (1.5×).
  • Robotic surgery ecosystem raises its EBIT margin from 29.3% to 33.3%.
  • The company spends $4.5B of capital expenditure through FY2030.
  • The company stays net cash throughout (lowest point $3.9B of net cash in FY2025).

What the price implies

To reach $443.85 at our discount rate, Intuitive Surgical Inc would need about $38.1B of FY2030 sales (growth of about 32.8% a year from FY2026) with 33.3% GAAP EBIT margin — versus $18.4B and 33.3% GAAP EBIT margin in our research.

At the research price of $443.85 (2026-10-23), the price asks more than our assumptions overall. These are operating requirements at that price, not additional valuations or forecasts.

If sales and margins changed together

Each row matches the same research price at our unchanged discount rate, by scaling every operating line's margin by one common factor. Sales cover margin and capacity lines only; other valuation lines stay fixed. Margins are revenue-weighted within each metric, before separately modeled corporate costs and eliminations. The conclusion uses the row at our research margins when sales alone can match the price, otherwise the solved row needing the least sales growth; this is a trade-off between growth and profitability, not a forecast.

FY2030 sales factorFY2030 salesFY2026–30 CAGRRequired FY2030 marginRequirement
1.50×$27.6B22.5%
45.3% GAAP EBIT
Within margin guardrails
2.00×$36.8B31.7%
34.4% GAAP EBIT
Within margin guardrails
2.07×At research margins$38.1B32.8%
33.3% GAAP EBIT
Within margin guardrails
3.00×$55.2B45.7%
23.3% GAAP EBIT
Within margin guardrails

CAGR uses $12.2B of same-scope FY2026 sales from the published model or its sourced research base, over four fiscal years. “Within margin guardrails” checks numeric limits only, not commercial plausibility. Each line and year must stay at or below 50.0% GAAP EBIT and 100% EBITDA, or our research margin where that is higher; capacity EBIT uses the engine's equipment depreciation. Unsolved margins are not extrapolated.

Implied discount rate
6.5%

The WACC that makes model value equal the price, shifting WACC and cost of equity by the same amount. Model: 9.9% WACC · 9.9% cost of equity.

All-business FY2030 sales factor
2.07×

FY2030 revenue would need to reach $38.1B (model: $18.4B) across the margin and capacity businesses. FY1 stays fixed; the sales change ramps to FY2030 and stays at that factor thereafter.

If only one business changed

Businesses with margin or capacity revenue paths, ordered by value today. Revenue and margin are separate alternatives; these requirements are not added together.

Robotic surgery ecosystem

Revenue alone
FY2030 revenue would need to reach $36.9B (model: $18.4B).
Margin alone

FY2030 EBIT margin would need to reach 66.3% (model: 33.3%).

Mechanical requirements, not forecasts. The separate sales-only and single-business factors are searched from 0.1× to 6×; an unsolved comparison means this business alone cannot get there within those bounds. Single-business revenue changes apply from FY2 onward; margin changes scale the full EBIT or EBITDA margin path. Mixed groups show revenue-weighted EBIT and EBITDA margins separately. Requirements above 100% are not feasible margins. Joint rows instead search non-negative uniform margin factors only up to the EBIT/EBITDA guardrails; the entire margin path scales, including post-FY2030 convergence. Sales and margins change together only in that table. The rate search runs from the largest terminal growth rate plus 0.5 percentage points to 30% WACC.

The discount rate

Cost of equity
9.87%

r_f 3.87% (5-year average 10-year Treasury yield 3.87% (spot 5.13% on 2026-10-21)) + β 1.20 after Blume adjustment × 5%, rounded to 0.01% (1bp)

WACC
9.87%

methodology §4.5: market-weighted WACC, not rounded

10-year Treasury · model / spot
3.87% · 5.13%

The model uses the recorded 5-year average Treasury yield. The spot yield is shown for context.

Every input, with its source

Show 15 inputs · reported, guidance and rule-based
InputValueBasisWhy
Revenue FY2026Robotic surgery ecosystem$12.2BReportedtarget (methodology §4.2), growth 21.7% finanzen.net ↗
Revenue FY2030Robotic surgery ecosystem$18.4BGuidancetarget (methodology §4.2), growth 10.7% finanzen.net ↗
EBIT margin FY2030Robotic surgery ecosystem33.3%Rulelinear path to 33.3% by FY2030 (§4.3 E2: 4.0000 points = 4pp × clamp((CAGR − 1.5%) / 2%, 0, 1); revenue CAGR 12.8% to FY2030; no cited expansion evidence) isrg.intuitive.com ↗
Maintenance capexRobotic surgery ecosystem6.0%RuleFY2025 cash capex 540M is below depreciation 600M. Methodology maintenance floor sets capex=depreciation 600M, rather than perpetuate under-replacement cash flow. isrg.intuitive.com ↗
Terminal growthRobotic surgery ecosystem3.0%Rulemethodology §4.2 terminal growth for a growth line Valuation methodology §4.2 · Read methodology ↗
WACCDiscount rates9.87%Rulemethodology §4.5: market-weighted WACC, not rounded FRED DGS10 2021-10-20..2026-10-21
Cost of equityDiscount rates9.87%Ruler_f 3.87% (5-year average 10-year Treasury yield 3.87% (spot 5.13% on 2026-10-21)) + β 1.20 after Blume adjustment × 5%, rounded to 0.01% (1bp) 60 monthly returns vs SPY, 2021-09..2026-09 (adjusted closes)
Tax rateDiscount rates18.9%RuleNo verified forward tax target; methodology fallback mean FY2025/24/23 cash tax divided by pretax income:537.9/3311.4,466.5/2673.8,447.8/1958.9M. Retains cash taxes rather than SBC-distorted GAAP provision. isrg.intuitive.com ↗
Cash and short-term investmentsBalance sheet$4.0BReportedcash, cash equivalents and short-term investments us-gaap:CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue + us-gaap:MarketableSecuritiesCurrent · 0001035267-26-000071 (filed 2026-10-21)
BorrowingsBalance sheet$0.0BReportedborrowings due within a year plus long-term borrowings; no positive borrowing facts in available SEC observations since 2023-01-01; three full fiscal years checked; balance sheet liabilities fully tagged and reconciled, with no debt row sec.gov ↗ · data.sec.gov ↗
Finance leasesBalance sheet$0.0BReportedno finance lease liability reported balance sheet 2026-09-30
Minority interestsBalance sheet$0.1BReportednoncontrolling interests at book value us-gaap:MinorityInterest · 0001035267-26-000071 (filed 2026-10-21)
SharesBalance sheet0.347BReportedshares outstanding as of 2026-10-15 cover page of 10-Q 0001035267-26-000071
Noncurrent available-for-sale treasury, agency and corporate debt securitiesNon-operating assets$2.8BReportedSeptember 30 Note 3 fair value: Treasury 2.3333B + corporate debt.4129B + agency.0117B =2.7579B. Separate from 4.0425B cash/current investments; interest and other income is below GAAP operating income. No growth, second cash inclusion or maturity uplift. sec.gov ↗
Dividends per yearShareholders$0.0BReportedCompany has never paid cash dividends; repurchases are not dividends. × 0.347B shares isrg.intuitive.com ↗

Research notes

  • share-count comparison: 0.3516B quarter 2026-07-01..2026-09-30 · 0001035267-26-000071; point-in-time denominator retained
  • cost of equity 9.87% (β 1.20 after Blume adjustment), WACC 9.9%

Signal Ledger research built from cited consensus, company plans and peer economics because management sets no usable targets — not a forecast and not investment advice. The research desk (GPT-6.1 (Codex)) gathers filings, guidance and targets; deterministic code applies the samepublished rules to every company and checks the result. Inputs may contain errors; follow the source links before relying on them. Read our valuation methodology →