Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) Competitors

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) and DexCom (NASDAQ:DXCM) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, earnings, valuation and media sentiment.

Which has more risk and volatility, ISRG or DXCM?

Intuitive Surgical has a beta of 1.64, meaning that its share price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DexCom has a beta of 1.44, meaning that its share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, ISRG or DXCM?

Intuitive Surgical has higher revenue and earnings than DexCom. DexCom 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	22.63	$2.32B	$6.82	77.32
DexCom	$4.15B	7.92	$576.20M	$1.34	62.51

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in ISRG or DXCM?

83.6% of Intuitive Surgical shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.8% of DexCom shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Intuitive Surgical shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of DexCom shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is ISRG or DXCM more profitable?

Intuitive Surgical has a net margin of 28.41% compared to DexCom's net margin of 12.90%. DexCom's return on equity of 30.05% beat Intuitive Surgical's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Intuitive Surgical	28.41%	14.43%	12.81%
DexCom	12.90%	30.05%	10.00%

Does the media refer more to ISRG or DXCM?

In the previous week, Intuitive Surgical had 33 more articles in the media than DexCom. MarketBeat recorded 55 mentions for Intuitive Surgical and 22 mentions for DexCom. DexCom's average media sentiment score of 1.39 beat Intuitive Surgical's score of 1.32 indicating that DexCom is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Intuitive Surgical	46 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
DexCom	18 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate ISRG or DXCM?

Intuitive Surgical currently has a consensus target price of $592.59, indicating a potential upside of 12.38%. DexCom has a consensus target price of $98.50, indicating a potential upside of 17.60%. Given DexCom's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe DexCom is more favorable than Intuitive Surgical.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Intuitive Surgical	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.70
DexCom	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.95

Summary

Intuitive Surgical beats DexCom on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.