Since the earning season started, there are ups and downs. Unless all the companies report pathetic result, any big-boy who could give a breath of hope would potentially lift the overall market sentiment although for a very short period as can be seen by health products maker Johnson & Johnson today. I’m particularly excited this Thursday, 17th Apr 2008, because some of my favorites are going to announce their results such as Nucor Corp (NYSE: NUE, stock), Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, stock) and Intuitive Surgical Inc. (Nasdaq: ISRG, stock). Caterpilar and SanDisk Corp used to be my favorites not many moons ago but not anymore.

Let’s talk about Intuitive Surgical which is scheduled to announce its earnings after the closing bell on Thursday. The flagship product is definitely the daVinci robotic surgery system used mostly by surgeons. The daVinci Surgical Systems consist of a surgeon’s console, a patient-side cart, a vision system, wristed instruments and surgical accessories. The da Vinci Surgical System controls Intuitive Surgical endoscopic instruments, including rigid endoscopes, blunt and sharp endoscopic dissectors, scissors, scalpels, forceps/pickups, needle holders, endoscopic retractors, electrocautery, ultrasonic cutters and accessories during a range of surgical procedures.

The stock dips yesterday as an analyst from Cowen and Co. Eli Kammerman expects Intuitive Surgical to miss Wall Street’s earning estimate by a penny due to hefty spending in Research and Development. According to Thomson Financial, analysts are looking at 98 cents per share on revenue of $178.2 million. However Wachovia’s Michael Matson is bullish and expects ISRG to beat earnings. Overall analysts think the company will reaffirm its outlook figure for 2008 and this is what matter the most.

Rating Indicators for ISRG:

• Wall Street consensus : 0.98
• StockScouter rating : 8 / 10
• Whisper Number for this stock : 1.02
• Power Rating : 7 / 10
• Zacks Analysts Rating: Hold
• Option Trading: May 2008 330 Call
• Implied Volatility (IV) for Jul 2008 $330 Strike: 66.57%

The only problem trading this option is the high Implied Volatility making it very hard to make good money unless with huge gap. But this is a company that registers sales and income growth of 61.20 and 100.60 percent (compared to industry’s 22.50 and 2.00 percent) respectively with zero debts. Did you notice how the stock skyrocket starting from 10:45 trading hour today? Simply fabulous! I’m not sure if I should lock-in profit by taking half of it from the table (scalp it) while let the remaining runs for its’ earning this Thursday.

Tweet

April 15th, 2008 by financetwitter

If you enjoyed this post, what shall you do next? Consider: