The stock has plummeted over 95% from its historic highs 6 years ago, as the market place for smartphones has changed completely. There are many reasons for the huge decline but many of them have to do with the company’s missteps in judging the smartphone market and what consumers want(ed). For the most part, BlackBerry 10 delays cost the company its ecosystem, support lines, and customers as impatience had users moving onto iOS and Android competitors.
U.S. market share is currently estimated to be a dismal 1% and last month just 2.7 million of the new phones were shipped – over 1 million below expectations. The lack of support and the obsolete designs have put the company in limbo over the next play as the physical keyboard – a trademark of the Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) design – has prevented the company from creating phones that meet screen size, aesthetic, and app requirements of consumers.
Final thoughts – defining opportunity
Investor’s – both old and new – don’t take the time to analyze what is actually happening when a company’s stock declines rapidly. Any stock that ‘plunges’ on weak outlook is instantly labeled with downgrades or at the very least “the good days are over.” There is a difference.
While Intuitive Surgical, and similarly, Green Mountain are seeing slower growth with their current products, that doesn’t eliminate the other possibilities for each company that include expansion, improvements, predictable cash flows for product support, and global growth. It also doesn’t eliminate the other key variable – adoption of product or the opportunity.
What you don’t hear in the headlines are that procedures for Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) increased 18% for the quarter, instrument revenues are expected to go up 18%, annual procedures are over 200,000 for the U.S. alone, worldwide revenues are increasing 25% on a year-over-year basis, and the most important number of all – 6303. Growing monthly, unlike support for Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), is the support for the da Vinci system. 6303 is the number of trials, studies, and publications that to this day that validate the product as an asset to the medical community. This makes Intuitive Surgical an opportunity.
The article Has Intuitive Surgical’s Stock Been Fairly Slashed Down? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Michael Carter.
Michael Carter has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Intuitive Surgical. The Motley Fool owns shares of Intuitive Surgical. Michael is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
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