Is This Small-Cap Stock the Next Intuitive Surgical?
When it comes to robotic surgery companies, Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) is the undisputed kingpin. It has a market cap in excess of $69.7 billion, and few competitors can ever hope to rival its unique combination of innovative surgical robotics and a business model that's excellent at generating oodles of recurring revenue.
But Vicarious Surgical (NYSE: RBOT) aims to do all that and more, and it's targeting some of the same market segments as Intuitive Surgical. Right now, Vicarious has a market capitalization of around $450 million, and it doesn't have any way of making money as its surgical robot is still in development. Still, could it eventually rival Intuitive's returns of above 3,510% since June of 2005?
Vicarious pitches its robotic surgical suites as being both cheaper and more effective than the competition in the minimally invasive abdominal surgery space. To keep costs low, it makes its robot parts using 3D printers and injection molds. Per management, that could lead to capital costs that are between five and 10 times lower than competing robots. The company also claims that the robot can create incisions that are significantly smaller than those of existing surgical systems, thereby lowering the risk of complications for patients.
Source Fool.com
