MAKO Surgical Corp. (NASDAQ:MAKO)

A lot of knees and hips are going to be needing replacement and this technology still fairly early in the game. Looks like a long a bright future ahead. Specially if Americans keep eating at the gluttony pace they are on MAKO will make out for you.

Americans will not grow old gracefully. We want our knees as good as the day we turned 30. This company will profit from this.

2012 10 Experts pick

Rising Star

It's the disposable parts that drive recurring sales.

A week after making my CAPS call on MAKO, I was finally able to purchase some shares (on my wife's account, but, hey, at least I got finally got it in the family!). A few years ago my brother-in-law had to have his prostate removed (cancer), and they used a robitic system to do it (don't know whose). I was impressed by how small he said the incision was, and how quickly he recovered. My mom had a knee replaced a few years back, and her recovery time was long and rehabilitation difficult. I think MAKO's robitic system has a lot of promise for the ever-aging Boomers, half of whom seem to want to be more active in their twilight years, and the other half who're overweight and putting more pressure on their knees and hips than previous generations. Knee and hip replacements are going to up dramatically in the next decade-plus, and systems like MAKO's will make recovery time much faster than traditional surgeries. I've been concentrating heavily on buying high-and-sustainable yielding companies for my portfolio, so adding MAKO is one of my few pure "growth" plays. Definitely a buy-and-hold, and I expect that eventually they'll be providing a decent dividend, too.

High priced but a long way to go if it proves to be as successful as ISRG

mako is rising very quickly!They will continue to grow and prosper very quickly,

http://www.fool.com/investing/high-growth/2011/09/09/one-medical-device-stock-i-just-bought.aspx

One Medical-Device Stock I Just Bought

Welcome to my portfolio, MAKO Surgical (Nasdaq: MAKO ) . I've had my eye on you for a while, but now I'm ready to commit to a long-term relationship. I hope you stay a while.

I recently acquired a new position in the company because its robotic orthopedic surgery system, the RIO, is accelerating sales while its MAKOplasty procedures performed for minimally invasive knee surgery take off. MAKO earns revenue every step of the way. The system itself generates sales, including for installation and training, while the company sells implants and disposable products used in the procedure. It also derives some revenue from warranty and maintenance services.

Can I get your digits?
Two out of three of these revenue sources are recurring: procedures and service. Last quarter, these two recurring revenue streams accounted for 49% of revenue, compared with 44.6% a year ago. Management sees recurring revenue constituting an increasing percentage of total revenue as the company leverages its growing installed base of RIO systems.

Quarterly MAKOplasty procedures performed have leapt 487% since the first quarter of 2009, going from 265 in that quarter to 1,557 in the second quarter of this year. The total commercial installed base of RIO systems has also more than quadrupled over the same time frame, from 20 to 86.

It's analogous to the razor-and-blade model, except traditionally those models make no profit on the razor and all the profit on the blades, whereas MAKO makes a healthy gross profit on its razor and even more gross profit on its blades. Last quarter, MAKO's gross margin on the RIO systems was 63.2%, and products and services boasted even higher gross margins at 77.6% and 80.8%, respectively. Each segment has expanded gross margin over the past year.

Going steady
The company hasn't been able to turn its red ink to black quite yet, and last quarter's $18.6 million in revenue -- an 81.2% increase -- resulted in a $9.9 million net loss. Selling, general, and administrative expenses are still disproportionately high since MAKO is still such a small company.

The quarter's $17.1 million in SG&A expense burned through the $13.1 million in gross profit and then some, and that's before you even include the $5 million in R&D. Still, the company has been strengthening its financial position, albeit with an equity offering last November.

MAKO is still a very small company, with a market cap of only $1.5 billion. It's competing against much larger rivals, including Stryker (NYSE: SYK ) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ) , which also market orthopedic implants and knee-surgery products. The company has a long way to go if it ever wants to achieve Intuitive Surgical-esque (Nasdaq: ISRG ) success. I'm not the only one who sees similarities between Intuitive Surgical and MAKO Surgical. Foolish colleague Brian Stoffel aptly calls Intuitive Surgical an "older, more mature version of MAKO."

I tend to begin my analysis with top-line revenue growth before making my way down the income statement, and MAKO is delivering on revenue growth. MAKO is a young company experiencing all the normal growing pains of fledgling growth stocks, such as net losses. As long as MAKO can continue ramping up its installed base and MAKOplasty procedure adoption, revenue will take care of itself and net profitability and margin expansion will follow.

As of June 30 this year, there have been 8,656 MAKOplasty procedures performed. The global opportunities are just beginning. Last year, one RIO system was sold to an Italian distributor and another to a South Korean distributor for demonstration and marketing purposes to try to tap into those respective markets.

No earnings

Healthcare can't fail. People need it

baby ISRG

Due to market demand and the ageing population world wide.

Knee resurfacing rather than replacing? I am 40 years old and have had both knee and hip surgery, with the prospect of more. I love this stock.

OUTPERFORM

still going under the radar of big investment funds

Robots don't slip

Insiders, float Short.

A game-changer in growing markets - knee & hip