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Medtronic (MDT) Inks Deal to Offer Touch Surgery Enterprise

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Medtronic plc (MDT - Free Report) recently inked a deal with Vizient to offer Touch Surgery Enterprise -- the first artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cloud-based video management and analytics platform for the operating room (OR). It will be added to Vizient’s platforms, which serve more than half of the nation’s healthcare providers.

Touch Surgery Enterprise gives surgical teams a powerful new tool to enhance patient care by simplifying the process to capture and analyze surgical video.

The latest development is likely to fortify Medtronic’s Surgical Robotics business, which is part of the company’s Medical Surgical portfolio.

Few Words on Vizient

Vizient is a healthcare performance improvement company in the United States which serves more than half of the nation's acute care providers, spanning academic medical centers, community hospitals, pediatric facilities, and non-acute care providers.

Touch Surgery Enterprise at a Glance

Touch Surgery Enterprise is part of Medtronic's evolving portfolio of AI and surgical robotic solutions, and is compatible with the Hugo robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system.

Touch Surgery Enterprise consists of the DS1 computer and controller — surgical video recording hardware designed specifically for the OR, which enables automatic blurring of faces and protected information to ensure data privacy compliance before uploading surgical video to the AWS global cloud.

Benefits of the Touch Surgery Enterprise

The first AI-powered surgical video management and analytics platform for the OR, Touch Surgery Enterprise provides surgeons with a powerful new tool to improve performance and train others by significantly simplifying the process of recording, analyzing, and sharing surgical videos.

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Medtronic’s Touch Surgery Enterprise works with laparoscopic and robotic scopes to support hospitals in taking a step toward digitizing their OR while leveraging existing equipment. Per Medtronic’s management, the agreement with Vizient will enable Medtronic to support hospitals in the United States who are looking to harnessing the power of surgical video data and analysis.

Industry Prospects

Per a report by Grand View Research, the global AI-based surgical robots market size was valued at $5.0 billion in 2020 and is expected to see a CAGR of 17.2% by 2028.

The increased efficiency and success rate provided by robotic surgeries along with the increased penetration of advanced technologies such as AI in the field of robotic surgeries is driving the market.

Recent Developments

In February 2022, Medtronic and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) announced that they are working to provide colorectal cancer screening technologies in low income and underserved communities across the United States through the Medtronic Health Equity Assistance Program for colon cancer screening, with support from Amazon Web Services (AWS).

In the same month, Medtronic announced that the first clinical procedure in Europe was performed with the Hugo robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system. The Hugo RAS system is a modular, multi-quadrant platform designed for a broad range of soft-tissue procedures. It is Medtronic's solution to historical cost and utilization barriers that have kept surgical robotics out of reach for many hospitals.

Price Performance

Shares of the company have lost 12.3% in a year compared with the industry's fall of 19%.

Zacks Rank and Key Picks

Medtronic currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Few better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are McKesson Corporation (MCK - Free Report) , AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. (AMN - Free Report) and Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (BIO - Free Report) .

McKesson, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), reported third-quarter fiscal 2022 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $6.15, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.38 by 14.3%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

McKesson has a long-term earnings growth rate of 11.8%. MCK has gained 51% compared with the industry’s 4.5% growth in the past year.

AMN Healthcare, carrying a Zacks Rank #1, has a long-term earnings growth rate of 16.2%. The company surpassed earnings estimates in the trailing four quarters, delivering a surprise of 19.5%, on average.

AMN Healthcare has outperformed its industry over the past year. AMN has gained 31.5% versus the 58.7% industry decline.

Bio-Rad reported fourth-quarter 2021 adjusted EPS of $3.21, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 11.9%. It currently has a Zacks Rank #2.

Bio-Rad has an earnings yield of 2.3%, which compares favorably with the industry’s negative yield. BIO surpassed earnings estimates in the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 66.9%.

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