Analyst Speculates SAGES as Venue for Intuitive Surgical to Announce Nexgen System

Shares of Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) are trading higher by 1.48 percent to $441 as traders pass around a Leerink note.

The Street expectation is the company will be releasing a new console “at some point in the not too distant future (i.e., sometime 2014),” said analyst Richard Newitter.

Newitter speculates the “Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) conference could be a venue where ISRG may talk about potential upcoming new product launches or possibly even a nexgen system.”

The analyst detailed some features and functions a new Intuitive Surgical console would ideally include such as:

1. Better haptic feedback capabilities.
2. Improved intraoperative maneuverability (not having to undock the system for multi-quadrant surgery).
3. Improved single-site capabilities (i.e., angulated instruments and more degrees of freedom).
4. Cost (i.e., cheaper robot).