Intuitive Q3 Revenue Rises 22% as $450 Million Antitrust Settlement Cuts Profit

Intuitive reported third-quarter revenue of $3.05 billion, up 22% from $2.51 billion a year earlier, while its GAAP profit fell after it recorded a $450 million charge to settle a previously disclosed antitrust class action, the company said in its earnings release on Oct. 20.

GAAP net income attributable to Intuitive was $523 million, or $1.49 per diluted share, compared with $704 million, or $1.95 per share, in the third quarter of 2025. Non-GAAP net income was $1.05 billion, or $3.00 per diluted share, up from $867 million, or $2.40 per share.

The antitrust settlement

In October, following a mediation, Intuitive reached a written agreement to settle the class action known as In re: da Vinci Surgical Robot Antitrust Litigation for a one-time payment of $450 million and mutually agreed injunctive relief, without any admission of liability or wrongdoing, according to the release. The company booked the $450 million as a selling, general and administrative expense in the third quarter; net of tax, the charge was $347 million, or $0.99 per diluted share.

The settlement remains subject to preliminary and final court approval. Intuitive said there can be no assurance the court will approve it or that individual class members will not object.

Procedures and placements

Worldwide procedures on Intuitive's da Vinci and Ion systems grew about 15% from the prior-year quarter. Da Vinci procedures grew about 14% and Ion procedures about 31%. The company placed 546 da Vinci systems, including 315 da Vinci 5 systems, compared with 427 and 240 a year earlier, and placed 56 Ion endoluminal systems.

The da Vinci installed base reached 12,094 systems as of Sept. 30, up 12%. Instruments and accessories revenue rose 18% to $1.80 billion, and systems revenue was $769 million, up from $590 million. Of the da Vinci systems placed, 291 were under operating leases, including 160 under usage-based arrangements.

"Our strong performance this quarter was marked by broad-based adoption across our multi-port, single-port, and Ion platforms, with customers using our systems to perform, on average, over 10,000 procedures per day throughout the period," said CEO Dave Rosa.

For the full year, Intuitive expects worldwide da Vinci procedure growth of approximately 14% to 15%, closer to the midpoint, and a non-GAAP gross margin of 68.7% to 69.3% of revenue, a range that includes an estimated tariff impact of 0.9% of revenue. The company repurchased 7.8 million shares for $2.94 billion during the quarter.

Instrument pricing and the share reaction

On the earnings call, Rosa and CFO Jamie Samath confirmed that planned pricing changes for da Vinci instruments and accessories are expected to reduce instrument and accessory revenue per procedure by approximately 3% to 5% on a constant-mix basis once fully implemented, Finviz reported. The pricing changes are not described in the earnings release.

Intuitive shares fell 7.5% to $404.99 in pre-market trading on Oct. 21 as investors weighed the settlement charge and the pricing plan, according to Finviz. Non-GAAP earnings of $3.00 per share topped an analyst consensus estimate of $2.65, and revenue exceeded expectations of $2.91 billion, Finviz reported.