ISRG vs NVCR Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
ISRG is the dominant robotic surgery company with exceptional recurring revenue and near-monopoly market position, while NVCR is a clinical-stage-to-commercial medical device company with a novel cancer treatment modality seeking to expand beyond its first approved indication. These companies are in very different stages of commercial maturity and risk profiles.
ISRG vs NVCR contrasts the world's dominant surgical robot franchise with a clinical-innovation stage medical device company, illustrating the spectrum of medical device investment from proven platform to frontier technology.
ISRG holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. NVCR has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+28.38% vs -9.75%), though ISRG has the better forward P/E setup (30.87x vs -21.84x for NVCR). ISRG leads on both revenue growth (18.50%) and operating margin (33.60%), suggesting a stronger fundamental setup on both dimensions. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for NVCR (+52.23%) than for ISRG (+28.29%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want the dominant robotic surgery platform with proven recurring revenue from the razor-and-blade da Vinci system
- Value Intuitive's extraordinary physician training moat and 30+ years of accumulated surgical know-how
- See global procedure volume expansion (particularly in international markets) as a long-duration growth opportunity
- Want exposure to a novel cancer treatment modality with potential to expand into large cancer indications beyond GBM
- Value NovoCure's binary-type clinical trial catalysts (lung cancer trials) as potential large upside opportunities
- Are comfortable with higher risk in a medical device company dependent on payer coverage expansion and clinical trial success
| Metric | ISRG | NVCR |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 51.1 | 35.8 |
| AI ranki | #481 | #1643 |
| Latest closei | $393.33 | $16.69 |
| 1M returni | -1.10% | -8.30% |
| 6M returni | -18.04% | +41.32% |
| 1Y returni | -9.75% | +28.38% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | ISRG | NVCR |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $9.02K (-9.8%) started 2025-09-18 | $12.84K (+28.4%) started 2025-09-18 |
| 5Y ago | $11.64K (+16.4%) started 2021-09-20 | $1.31K (-86.9%) started 2021-09-20 |
| 10Y ago | $51.04K (+410.4%) started 2016-09-19 | $18.82K (+88.2%) started 2016-09-19 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | ISRG | NVCR |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $133.49B | $2.08B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 42.01 | N/A |
| Forward P/Ei | 30.87 | -21.84 |
| Price/Salesi | 22.91 | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 11.47 | 2.60 |
| Analyst targeti | $478.01 | $27.14 |
| Target upsidei | +28.29% | +52.23% |
| Metric | ISRG | NVCR |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 18.50% | 15.60% |
| Earnings growthi | 26.50% | N/A |
| EPS growthi | +26.50% | N/A |
| FCF margini | +23.70% | +3.26% |
| Operating margini | 33.60% | -5.75% |
| Profit margini | 28.45% | -21.25% |
| ROIC proxyi | 17.42% | -43.22% |
| Return on equityi | 17.42% | -43.22% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | N/A |
| Payout ratioi | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | N/A |
| Betai | 1.46 | 0.98 |
| Debt/equityi | 0.95 | 69.04 |
| Current ratioi | 4.96 | 2.89 |
| Quick ratioi | 3.64 | 2.66 |
Over the past year, ISRG and NVCR have moved weakly in the same direction (correlation of 0.16), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | ISRG | NVCR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -9.75% | +28.38% |
| CAGRi | -9.76% | +28.41% | |
| Volatilityi | 36.65% | 80.19% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.22 | 0.64 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.31 | 1.11 | |
| Max drawdowni | 44.00% | 32.55% | |
| Current drawdowni | 33.65% | 16.51% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 18.57% | 13.14% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 23.03% | 15.55% | |
| Max daily dropi | 14.15% | 20.00% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 17.48% | 23.81% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +16.37% | -86.88% |
| CAGRi | +3.08% | -33.42% | |
| Volatilityi | 34.57% | 81.46% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.13 | -0.16 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.19 | -0.25 | |
| Max drawdowni | 49.90% | 92.35% | |
| Current drawdowni | 35.57% | 87.27% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 18.07% | 70.06% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 22.68% | 74.03% | |
| Max daily dropi | 14.34% | 43.04% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 22.30% | 46.39% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +410.41% | +88.16% |
| CAGRi | +17.71% | +6.53% | |
| Volatilityi | 33.15% | 72.22% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.52 | 0.37 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.75 | 0.60 | |
| Max drawdowni | 49.90% | 95.55% | |
| Current drawdowni | 35.57% | 92.60% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 12.04% | 48.28% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 17.10% | 60.66% | |
| Max daily dropi | 14.34% | 43.04% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 22.30% | 46.39% |
| Category | ISRG | NVCR |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Intuitive Surgical, Inc. | NovoCure Limited |
| Sector | Healthcare | Healthcare |
| Industry | Medical Instruments & Supplies | Medical Devices |
| Core business | Intuitive Surgical develops and markets the da Vinci Surgical System, a robotic-assisted surgery platform enabling minimally invasive procedures in urology, gynecology, general surgery, and thoracic surgery, with a powerful recurring revenue model from instruments, accessories, and service contracts. | NovoCure's Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) technology delivers low-intensity, alternating electric fields to disrupt cancer cell division using wearable devices — currently approved for glioblastoma (GBM, brain cancer) and malignant pleural mesothelioma, with clinical trials in multiple other cancers. |
| Investor focus | Investors track da Vinci procedure volume growth, system placements (new and upgrades to da Vinci 5), instrument and accessory revenue per procedure, and the long-term global expansion opportunity beyond U.S. procedure penetration. | Investors track NovoCure's active patient count in approved indications, net revenue per active patient, U.S. and international coverage decisions, and clinical trial results in lung cancer and other indications as future growth catalysts. |
- Dominant, near-monopoly position in robotic surgery with deep physician training, hospital infrastructure, and procedure know-how creating extraordinarily high switching costs
- Razor-and-blade business model — da Vinci systems are placed for a capital fee, then generate recurring, high-margin instrument and accessory revenue per procedure
- 30+ years of accumulated surgical data and physician training create a moat that new entrants cannot replicate quickly
- TTFields is a fundamentally different cancer treatment modality — physical disruption of cell division rather than chemical toxicity — potentially combining with chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiation
- GBM is an underserved cancer with poor outcomes where TTFields has demonstrated survival benefit in clinical trials
- Expanding into other cancer indications (lung cancer EF-32 trial) creates multi-billion dollar potential expansion opportunities
- Competitive pressure from Medtronic (Hugo), Johnson & Johnson (Ottava), and others entering the robotic surgery market threatens Intuitive's pricing power and market share
- Hospital capital spending cycles affect new system placement pace even as procedure volumes are more resilient
- Da Vinci 5 launch requires significant capital upgrades at hospitals, creating near-term hospital budget pressure
- Payer coverage and reimbursement for TTFields varies widely — U.S. Medicare coverage for GBM is established but international coverage expansion is slow and uncertain
- GBM market size is inherently limited by the rarity of the disease — revenue growth requires successful expansion into larger cancer indications
- TTFields requires daily 18-hour wearable device use, which affects patient compliance and quality of life compared to IV chemotherapy regimens
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