Diamonds and Dogs

4/19/17

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) surges higher. The company well known for their da Vinci surgical procedures jumped 6% today and up 30% from the December lows following better than expected earnings. The company reported earnings of $5.09 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.11 better than the expectations. Revenue rose 13.4% year over year to $674.2 million easily topping estimates. The company received three upgrades with new price targets to reflect the torrid stock appreciation.

IBM singing the blues. International Business Machines (IBM) is down 5% back to the December lows after missing revenue expectations, but beat on the bottom line, and reiterated its outlook for this full year profits. One of the biggest takeaways was lower gross profit margins going forward. Longer term, IBM seems to be doing the right things to position themselves for longer-term sustainable growth, but in the short term another disappointing quarter.