Surgical Robotics Meets AI: Intuitive Surgical, Medtronic, and Stryker Are the Sleeper Plays of the Healthcare Boom

Surgical robotics is softly becoming an artificial quality story. Every robotic process generates structured video, kinematic, and outcomes information that platforms provender backmost into surgeon training, intraoperative guidance, and predictive analytics. That flywheel is the moat. The 3 companies owning the installed bases to physique it are Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG), Medtronic (NYSE: MDT), and Stryker (NYSE: SYK). With each 3 trading good disconnected their 2026 highs, the AI sleeper thesis looks much compelling.

3. Stryker (Mako and the New Ortho Tech Stack)

Stryker is the diversified medtech elephantine with the Mako robotic orthopedic franchise. Q1 FY26 showed adjusted EPS of $2.60, which missed the $2.98 estimate, arsenic good arsenic gross of $6.02 billion, which came successful abbreviated of the $6.33 cardinal consensus. CEO Kevin Lobo cited a March 11, 2026, cybersecurity incidental and $118 cardinal successful structural optimization charges that compressed adjusted operating borderline to 21.1% from 22.9%.

The AI space lives successful the recently carved-out Ortho Tech business, which combines Mako robotic-assisted country with powerfulness tools, cutting accessories, and enabling technologies. Knees grew 4.7% and hips 3.7%, some Mako-tethered categories. Lobo said, "I americium pleased with our team's quality to retrieve rapidly from the cyber incident.... We stay committed to gathering our afloat twelvemonth guidance." Guidance was maintained astatine 8.0% to 9.5% integrated income maturation and adjusted EPS of $14.90 to $15.10. The hazard is that Mako gross is bundled, truthful investors cannot isolate the AI orthopedics flywheel. Shares are down 21.3% implicit the past year.

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2. Medtronic (Hugo Goes Live)

Medtronic took its biggest measurement into the robotics contention erstwhile the Hugo robotic-assisted country strategy received U.S. FDA clearance, with archetypal cases completed successful February 2026. Q3 FY26 gross of $9.017 cardinal bushed the $8.892 cardinal estimate, and non-GAAP EPS of $1.36 topped the $1.3351 consensus. Cardiac Ablation Solutions stood out, with pulsed tract ablation driving gross up 80% wide and 137% successful the United States.