Chasing Value: Intuitive Surgical on the 2008 watch list

My eight stock picks for 2008 will not include one of my favorites, Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) because of recent appreciation in the stock price. Since I am basing my picks on the December 28 close, in two days, it just looks too pricey. The company is not only the leader in producing patented robotic surgical systems; it is the only game in town.

Intuitive Surgical was a strong candidate at $280 to $290, about 20% off it's high, but not at Wednesday's closing price of $335.24. It has a trailing P/E of 109 and a forward P/E of 77 if you believe projections, and I do since ISRG is constantly beating them. However, this stock has a 52-week low of $86.20 and a high of $359.59. That's very high and a 400% bounce has to leave even Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) enthusiasts astonished.

I have written favorably about ISRG in the past 22 months, so perhaps some of my readers have shared in the gains. It is one of the few stocks I have mentioned that does not pay a dividend, but it has beat all estimates every year since I bought it, and is likely to do so again (albeit with fits and starts). It has hardly penetrated its potential market, and already it has grown into a $12 billion company.

At this point, I would definitely put ISRG on my watch list, and perhaps like many volatile stocks, there would be an opportunity to own it at a lower price.

Disclosure: I own shares of ISRG in several portfolios.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.