Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) Competitors

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) and Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, risk, community ranking, analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Is ISRG or ABT more profitable?

Abbott Laboratories has a net margin of 31.95% compared to Intuitive Surgical's net margin of 27.81%. Abbott Laboratories' return on equity of 20.74% beat Intuitive Surgical's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Intuitive Surgical	27.81%	14.55%	12.88%
Abbott Laboratories	31.95%	20.74%	11.19%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of ISRG or ABT?

83.6% of Intuitive Surgical shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of Abbott Laboratories shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Intuitive Surgical shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Abbott Laboratories shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, ISRG or ABT?

Intuitive Surgical has a beta of 1.43, indicating that its share price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Abbott Laboratories has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings and valuation, ISRG or ABT?

Abbott Laboratories has higher revenue and earnings than Intuitive Surgical. Abbott Laboratories is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Intuitive Surgical, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Intuitive Surgical	$8.35B	22.17	$2.32B	$6.41	81.09
Abbott Laboratories	$41.95B	5.19	$13.40B	$7.65	16.40

Does the media prefer ISRG or ABT?

In the previous week, Abbott Laboratories had 3 more articles in the media than Intuitive Surgical. MarketBeat recorded 59 mentions for Abbott Laboratories and 56 mentions for Intuitive Surgical. Abbott Laboratories' average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat Intuitive Surgical's score of 1.17 indicating that Abbott Laboratories is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Intuitive Surgical	45 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Abbott Laboratories	54 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ISRG or ABT?

Intuitive Surgical received 107 more outperform votes than Abbott Laboratories when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 69.97% of users gave Abbott Laboratories an outperform vote while only 68.87% of users gave Intuitive Surgical an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Intuitive Surgical	Outperform Votes 1053 68.87%	Underperform Votes 476 31.13%
Abbott Laboratories	Outperform Votes 946 69.97%	Underperform Votes 406 30.03%

Do analysts prefer ISRG or ABT?

Intuitive Surgical currently has a consensus price target of $611.86, indicating a potential upside of 17.71%. Abbott Laboratories has a consensus price target of $137.94, indicating a potential upside of 9.95%. Given Intuitive Surgical's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Intuitive Surgical is more favorable than Abbott Laboratories.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Intuitive Surgical	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Abbott Laboratories	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.84

Summary

Abbott Laboratories beats Intuitive Surgical on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.