Biotech Values

[microcapfun]

ISRG yet again [yikes!]

>>Installed base YOY % growth vs procedure % growth?<<

I'm sorry ... Are you asking me for further information? With all due repect, why don't you get this on your own as it is all in the public domain??

At the end of 1Q09, the installed base had grown 35% during the previous year. I already gave you the procedure growth for 1Q09: 60% yoy.


>>I have heard from very good sources the robots sit idle too often and some hospitals they even "collect dust".<<

System usage apparently varies from 0 (or close to 0) all the way up to 3 procedures/weekday. The average is about 3 procedures/week right now.


>>I thought the instrumentation would grow faster as the units were installed.<<

Faster than what? Anyway, instrumentation usage comes from procedure demand, and system installations also come from procedure demand. There is a long-time fallacy that systems generate procedures, but it is the other way around. The company has stated this many times and you can see it from studying the past 9 years of data as well.


>>I am more interested in the reload revenue growth then I am the actual sales of the instrument.<<

You are confused. The "reload growth", as you put it, is precisely the sales of the instruments. Perhaps you are confusing instruments with systems.


>>If the year starts with a thousand instruments in the field ...<<

Yeah, that is your confusion.


>>I want to see the reload revenue growth at a much higher rate then the sold base growth.<<

Let me try to make this clear one more time. Procedures are growing ~60% annually. Long-term, I&A [Instrument & Accessory] revenue grows in direct proportion to procedure revenue - and this is much faster than the rate of growth of system sales or the installed base of systems. However due to short-term issues including de-stocking of instrument inventory by cost-cutting hospitals and a change in mix from higher instrument volume procedures like dVP to lower instrument volume procedures like dVH, this proportionality has broken down such that in 1Q09 I&A revenue grew by 'only' 32% while procedure number grew by 60%. However looked at long-term it is certainly true that I&A revenue has been growing faster than system revenue, which is what you say you "want to see".

If you are serious about discussing this company futher, I strongly encourage you to first read the SEC filings and listen to some cc's in order to better familiarize yourself with the business and terminology, and to understand how some of the basic parameters you are asking about have trended over time.

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