Aijaz

Hospitals' CapEx Cautions May Be Limiting Intuitive Surgical Growth, For Now

i think this comment needs further clarification.

"concerns about hospitals’ total capital spending budgets in the face of the tight credit market and other factors coupled with the company’s slightly lower than expected revenues guidance for 2008 knocked $60 off the price of ISRG Friday."

sales guidance on da vinci systems was increased on the latest conference call. 3 months ago an oppenheimer analyst assumed that sales would slow due to problems in the capital markets. it caused the stock to drop to $227. a few days later his assertion was emphatically rejected by management. since system purchases are a capital expense, it hardly makes sense that anyone is concerned about capital budgets when management is raising their guidance for system sales.