Intuitive Surgical, Inc.

Worth knowing

• Buybacks largely absorbed by stock pay. Stock-based pay expense $2.1B vs $2.7B spent repurchasing shares over the 3 fiscal years to 2025. Shares outstanding changed +0.9% from December 2022 to July 2026.

  Over three fiscal years Intuitive Surgical recorded $2.1B of stock-based pay expense and spent $2.7B repurchasing shares (repurchases can include shares withheld to cover employees' taxes). The share count barely moved (+0.9%), so much of the repurchasing offset new employee shares rather than shrinking the count.Over three fiscal years Intuitive Surgical recorded $2.1B of stock-based pay expense and spent $2.7B repurchasing shares. The share count barely moved (+0.9%), so much of the repurchasing offset new employee shares rather than shrinking the count.

• Profits growing faster than sales. Since 2022: revenue +62%, operating profit +87%.

  Since 2022, Intuitive Surgical's revenue grew 62% while operating profit grew 87%: each extra dollar of sales is adding more profit.

• Annual revenue rose 5 years in a row. Fiscal-year revenue rose from $4.4B in 2020 to $10.1B in 2025.

  Intuitive Surgical's fiscal-year revenue rose in each of the five years to 2025, from $4.4B to $10.1B.

• Profit is backed by cash. Free cash flow is 103% of reported profit.

  Intuitive Surgical's free cash flow is 103% of its reported profit, so its earnings are turning into cash it can reinvest, pay out or use to reduce debt.