Intuitive Surgical: Growth Sliced for the Quarter
Topping it off: After the close Monday, the Sunnyvale, CA. company, whose stock has been one of the hottest on Wall Street, announced that second quarter results would fall well below expectations, with income missing the mark by 10 percent and sales falling short of estimates by 9 percent.

Perhaps more disconcerting: Intuitive said overall sales in the quarter grew by just 7 percent, a profound slowdown at a company that quarter-after-quarter for the past two years has been turning in sales growth in averaging just below 25 percent..

As part of the disappointment, sales of machines—at more than $1.5 million each—dropped by 5 percent from the prior year.

Why the miss?