Intuitive Surgical builds tiny robots to save you and their stock is up this year

In the industry of manufacturing surgical devices Intuitive Surgical Incorporated (ISRG) is a force. They are involved in Haptics which is the science of computer aided touch sensitivity. It is a technology that helps doctors perform surgeries with the aid of small robots. The surgeon does not even have to be in the room. He would direct the movements of the machines from a remote location. It is remote control surgery. The company developed the da Vinci Surgical System. It is a system that faithfully reproduces a doctors hand movements in real time. The surgery is performed by tiny machanical devices that are inserted into the patient through small openings. Once placed in the body they are controlled by a surgeon who operates the devices and performs the surgery from a control console. Intuitive sells its products to hospitals and clinics in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Austrailia.
In december of 2004 one share of its stock was at about $45 a share. One year later it was playing with the idea of hitting $120 a share. In 2006 the stock did not do too well. It went from just under $120 to about $100 for the year taking a loss in value by the end of 06. This year however it has been flying. By June of 07 it was at about $140 a share. In july it went from $150 to $210. By mid October it was around $260. It took a little drop then and fell back to $240 and then it recovered and shot up to about $330 by the beginning of November. Then another drop and it went back down to about $270 in the first half of the month but then in the second half it shoots back up to $360 by early December. The last few weeks it has fallen back again and on Decmeber 19th 2007 it closed at $312.95 after a gain of over $5 for the day.
Wow what a roller coaster ride. The ride has had some setbacks but on the whole it is way up. It was under $100 at the beginning of the year and now it sits over $300 a share. There is way more good news here than bad. The stock has had a volatile ride but a seriously profitable one this year. In the long run i dont see why it should not continue. Nothing is certain of course but it should continue upward despite the occasional pullback.