Intuitive Surgical

Listed on Nasdaq under the symbol ISRG, Intuitive Surgical is a world leader in the field of robotic surgery. The company specializes in the design, manufacture and marketing of video-assisted robotic surgery systems, including the renowned da Vinci system.

It generates revenues from three main activities:

  • Sales of instruments and accessories (60%): This category mainly includes handles and other instruments required for surgical procedures.
  • Sale of robotic systems (23.6%): da Vinci systems, used primarily for urological, cardiothoracic and gynecological surgery, are at the heart of this business.
  • Installation and training services (16.4%): Intuitive Surgical also offers installation and training services for its systems.

Last July, the company launched its first AI-enabled digital tool, called Case Insights. This technology enables surgeons to study their own data and adapt their approaches to achieve better patient outcomes. Case Insights works with data from Intuitive 's robots and hospitals to find correlations between surgical technique, patient populations and outcomes, and develop objective performance indicators.

Intuitive CEO Gary Guthart told investors in July that the company's AI technologies could also help red reduce training times for surgeons, help hospitals improve the efficiency of surgical programs and, ultimately, reduce costs. This effort builds on several years' work with the robot manufacturer's clinical research partners.

Let's take a concrete example of the use of AI. Intuitive harvests data from its surgical staplers, such as clamping force on tissue, and compares it with the results obtained to improve the reliability of surgical procedures. Similarly, its Ion platform enables a pulmonologist to improve navigation to distal parts of the lung during a lung biopsy. Its 3D modeling tools are also very useful in pre-operative imaging to understand anatomical structures, giving the surgeon a mental model of what to expect before the operation.

Intuitive Surgical is also expanding its capabilities to run segmentation algorithms on a wider set of anatomical structures from CT scans. Intuitive Surgical has demonstrated solid growth over the years. The company is well positioned to benefit from the growing adoption of robotic surgery worldwide. Thanks to its robust business model, Intuitive Surgical generates revenues from multiple sources, thereby reducing risk.

Abbvie

AbbVie, listed on the NYSE under the symbol ABBV, is a company specializing in the research and development of therapeutic drugs. Its products target diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn's disease, thyroid, Parkinson's disease, HIV, complications of cystic fibrosis, low testosterone, and complications associated with chronic kidney disease. AbbVie is well positioned in the pharmaceutical sector with a wide range of therapeutic products. Despite a decline in earnings in 2023, growth prospects remain positive for the coming years.

AbbVie appears to be well positioned for the discovery of next-generation therapeutic antibodies based on machine learning and artificial intelligence. In this area, Abbvie recently collaborated with BigHat and its AI-guided Milliner platform to accelerate research in oncology and neuroscience. Abbvie is also working with ConcertAI and Caris Life Sciences to accelerate its pipeline and clinical trials. The agreement will enable Abbvie to leverage Caris' vast multimodal real-world database and ConcertAI's collection of high-quality clinical data.

AbbVie 's fundamentals remain solid, with high margins and strong free cash flow generation. There has also been a significant reduction in net debt and an improvement in the gearing ratio.

Pro Medicus Limited

Pro Medicus Limited, listed on the ASX under the symbol PME, is a leading Australian medical imaging software company. It offers advanced solutions such as Visage RIS, Visage RIS/PACS, and Visage 7, which enable rapid visualization of 2D, 3D and 4D medical images. RIS (Radiology Intelligence System) enables service providers to manage imaging and other administrative actions such as workflow management, patient registration, billing and more. Visage 7 is a state-of-the-art analysis tool that enables physicians and radiologists to efficiently visualize multiple test/imaging results of extreme complexity, enabling easy sharing for remote diagnosis.

These products are essential for radiologists in hospitals, diagnostic imaging groups and other healthcare entities in Australia, North America and Europe. Pro Medicus' customers are mainly healthcare institutions in North America, which generate 84% of its revenues, followed by Australia (12%) and Europe (4%).

The company distinguishes itself from its competitors by its ability to offer accurate, integrated solutions, with a strong AI-based cloud services component enabling multi-gigabyte test images to be shared from the cloud between radiologist/physician providers. Instead of distributing thousands of high-resolution 2D images from complex analyses such as PET, MRI or CT scans, the company's software merges the photos into a 3D image using a proprietary method.

Already on MarketScreener's radar for several years, this company is known for its intrinsic qualities and its disruptive character in the medical imaging market. The company's leading position in this market means that it will be able to take full advantage of new advances in artificial intelligence, which will be integrated into its tools to improve the relevance and speed of the solutions it offers.

Pro Medicus has enjoyed impressive historical growth, with sales increasing at an annualized rate of 29% over the last decade. Forecasts for the next three years suggest a continuation of this upward trend, given the low level of market penetration. An analysis of Pro Medicus' profitability reveals high ROE (46%), ROCE (46%) and ROA (24%), operating margins(67%) and net margins (49%), as well as solid free cash flow generation (FCF Conversion of 102%). The balance sheet shows a robust cash position and the ability to repay debt without difficulty. The management team, led by founders Anthony Hall and Sam Hupert, is experienced and has demonstrated its ability to steer the company towards sustained growth.

In return for its exceptional fundamentals, Pro Medicus boasts incredibly high valuation ratios (EV/Sales 2024 64.3x, PER 2024 132x, EV/EBITDA 2024 87.9x and EV/CFF 2024 138x), making it one of the most expensive stocks worldwide. However, strong revenue and earnings growth partly justify this hefty premium.

Pro Medicus Limited is positioned as an innovative and growing player in the advanced medical technology and equipment sector, with a solid financial outlook and an experienced management team. However, investors should be aware of the high valuation and future growth expectations already built into the current share price.

Other listed companies include :

  • Eli Lilly
  • Novo Nordisk
  • Caribou
  • Guardant Health
  • Recursion
  • Schrodinger
  • BioXcel
  • Exscientia
  • Siemens Healthineers
  • Fujifilm
  • UnitedHealth
  • Procept BioRobotics