ISRG: Controlled Sideways Patterns Ahead of Earnings

The Medical Instruments and Supplies industry had stellar growth until 2022, when it could not beat that anomaly in revenue growth which was one of the primary reasons for the intermediate-term correction in 2022.

2023 patterned out the abnormal revenues and earnings for most industries that benefited from either the pandemic or from the government OVER-stimulation of the US economy via mega amounts of stimulus checks to WORKING people. Stimulus checks should have been allocated to the unemployed only. That would have lessened the impact of the resulting anomalies. If anyone had bothered to study pandemic history, the impact would have been much less severe for American families and the economy.

As with hundreds of stocks at this time, ISRG is trending sideways. This is not a perfect platform yet, but the sideways action has some of the traits of a platform such as consistent highs and lows from the perspective of a weekly chart.

The stock is above its previous all-time high now, which provides a technical support level. The weekly chart shows that there has been Dark Pool accumulation and professional traders in the mix.

IF the earnings report next week shows steady growth in both revenues and earnings in the 1st quarter, and IF the CEO's projections are positive, the stock could have an HFT gap up. If there was a negative surprise coming, the CEO should have warned by now. HFTs can make mistakes and gap it down. But if HFTs trade it down, then the stock price will immediately run back up into that sideways price level.

If the report indicates a flat or minor improvement, then it is likely to remain within the sideways trend for another quarter.

A controlled entry above the highs of the current sideways action eliminates that risk factor for either swing trading or position trading.