Among the many things that have been thrown out of whack by the COVID-19 pandemic is routine medical care. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a framework for the delivery of medical services during the pandemic, recommending that "healthcare systems prioritize urgent visits and delay elective care to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in healthcare settings."
Based on that, the stocks of many companies in the healthcare sector started looking ill almost immediately, and earnings reports from the first quarter have generally confirmed the damage done to sales and profits by the sharp decline in many types of medical procedures.
Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) is the leading seller of surgical robots, but since the company gets most of its revenue from disposable instruments and supplies whenever its da Vinci robotic systems are used in a procedure, the pause in elective surgery is taking a particularly heavy toll on its business. However, it should bounce back more strongly than most once those delayed surgeries can be scheduled and hospitals deal with the backlog.
Source Fool.com