My 1 Top AI Healthcare Stock to Buy and Hold Forever

The stock has averaged annual gains of nearly 25% over the past decade.The fact that, per Fidelity, a 65-year-old person retiring in 2025 could expect to spend $172,500, on average, on medical and healthcare expenses throughout their retirement makes clear what most of us know: Healthcare is costly. That's not great news for us as patients, but for investors, it suggests that there's a lot of money to be made in healthcare. One of the most successful companies in the healthcare realm is Intuitive Surgical (ISRG +1.45%), the giant in robotic surgeries. It's also a company embracing artificial intelligence (AI). I'm a shareholder, and I plan to hold on to my shares for a very long time. Here's why. Image source: Getty Images.

Meet Intuitive Surgical The Intuitive Surgical website announces that "we believe minimally invasive care is life-enhancing care." And it shares some impressive numbers: 16 million-plus procedures performed worldwide through 2024 using the company's da Vinci systems. 72 countries with da Vinci systems in use. 11,106-plus da Vinci systems around the world. Every 11.75 seconds a surgeon commences a procedure with a da Vinci system. Its success with the da Vinci system has been remarkable, and the company now has another system -- the Ion, for robotic bronchoscopies and lung biopsies. ExpandNASDAQ: ISRGIntuitive SurgicalToday's Change(1.45%) $6.93Current Price$485.53Key Data PointsMarket Cap$173BDay's Range$479.25 - $495.4552wk Range$425.00 - $609.08Volume95KAvg Vol1.9MGross Margin65.98% The icing on the cake with this company is that only about a quarter of its revenue comes from selling its extremely expensive systems. The rest is from servicing and supplies -- and that's dependable, recurring revenue. Still growing rapidly Intuitive is still posting impressive numbers. In its solid fourth quarter, it reported worldwide procedures up 18% year over year and 532 da Vinci systems installed (up from 493 a year prior). Revenue was up 19% year over year. Check out the stock's performance, too: Time Period Average Annual Return Past 1 year (16.88%) Past 3 years 26.39% Past 5 years 13.52% Past 10 years 23.86% Past 15 years 18.78% Source: Data from Morningstar.com as of Feb. 10, 2026. The company is growing not only by adding machines, but also by expanding their use. The da Vinci 5 system, for example, was recently approved for certain cardiac procedures. Applying AI to surgery Intuitive is sitting on a wealth of data from more than 10 million procedures that have been performed with its systems, and it's using AI to draw insights from that data that can improve the system even more. With respect to the Ion system, Intuitive notes that: Ion's latest AI-powered enhanced navigation builds on its existing strengths to address a key challenge in lung biopsy known as CT-to-body divergence -- when a lung nodule is in a different location ... Ion will now use AI to help correct this in real time. Time to buy? If you're itching to invest in Intuitive Surgical right now, perhaps hold off because this growth stock is not exactly cheap, though it is priced lower right now than it was last year. Opinions will vary, but at best, it's fairly valued. So you might wait for a pullback, invest in the company incrementally, or just jump in as long as you plan to hang on for many years through downturns and upturns.Read NextFeb 9, 2026 •By David Jagielski, CPAShould You Buy Intuitive Surgical Stock While It's Under $500?Feb 8, 2026 •By Adria Cimino1 Reason I'd Buy Intuitive Surgical Stock and Never SellFeb 7, 2026 •By Prosper Junior Bakiny2 Top Healthcare Stocks to Buy in FebruaryFeb 7, 2026 •By Reuben Gregg BrewerWhy This Stock's January Slump Could Be a Gift for Patient InvestorsJan 31, 2026 •By Reuben Gregg BrewerShould You Buy Shares of Intuitive Surgical In February?Jan 31, 2026 •By Prosper Junior Bakiny1 No-Brainer Stock to Buy on the DipAbout the AuthorSelena Maranjian is a contributing personal finance and investing expert at The Motley Fool. Selena has produced The Motley Fool’s nationally syndicated newspaper feature since 1997. She is the author of The Motley Fool Money Guide and Investment Clubs: How to Start and Run One the Motley Fool Way, and the co-author of The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens and several editions of The Motley Fool Investment Tax Guide. Prior to The Motley Fool, she worked as a high school teacher and public opinion analyst. She holds a master’s degree in teaching from Brown University and a master’s degree in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.TMFSelenaStocks MentionedIntuitive SurgicalNASDAQ: ISRG$485.53 (+1.45%) $+6.93*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.