Johnson & Johnson is diving head-first into the deep end of the competitive robotic surgery market. The payoff for investors won’t happen overnight, but management believes it will be worth the wait. J & J’s Ottava received approval from the Food and Drug Administration this summer for use in multiple general surgery procedures — bringing the company onto turf long dominated by Intuitive Surgical and its innovative da Vinci system. Following years of development, J & J executives are betting that Ottava’s smaller footprint and other unique design features will win over surgeons and hospitals, slowly chipping away at Intuitive’s quarter-century head start in the soft-tissue market. The company is also counting on its deep presence in the operating room as a major supplier of staplers and other surgical tools to boost the appeal of Ottava. Surgery is already the largest piece of J & J’s medical technology (MedTech) segment, and its importance will only increase once the company sheds its slower-growing orthopedic business. MedTech is projected to be roughly a third of J & J’s sales this year, with its pharmaceutical segment, called Innovative Medicine, representing the rest. “We’re currently the global leader in surgery,” Hani Abouhalka, the head of J & J’s surgery and robotics unit, said in an interview with CNBC. “Our intention is to be a leader in surgical robotics.” There’s good reason for that goal. The robotic surgical market opportunity is expanding, both at home and abroad. Precedence Research projects that the U.S. surgical robotics market will grow from roughly $4.4 billion in 2025 to $18.75 billion by 2035. Globally, Precedence expects the global surgical robotics market to expand from $14.45 billion in 2026 to about $50.29 billion by 2035. Patient preferences for fewer and smaller incisions are largely driving the growth. Currently, less than a quarter of surgeries in the U.S. are performed robotically, according to UCSF Health, a major academic hospital in San Francisco. J & J believes that Ottava can help “expand the market in the U.S.,” Abouhalka said. In that way, Ottava’s long-term success may not solely depend on getting hospitals to move away from Intuitive Surgical, which pioneered the space more than two decades ago, or depend on besting other new entrants in the market, such as Medtronic , which had its Hugo system cleared by the FDA in December 2025. Put simply, there could be multiple winners. Some on Wall Street are skeptical about the role that Ottava will end up playing in robotic soft-tissue surgery. The company itself has also been light on details regarding pricing and sales expectations, other than telling investors that they expect to be a material financial contributor within a few years. JNJ YTD mountain Johnson & Johnson’s year-to-date stock chart. No stranger to surgery J & J has its own pioneering history in surgery dating back to 1886, when Robert Wood Johnson and his two brothers founded the company to develop and mass-produce sterile surgical products. At the time, infections following surgery were commonplace and often fatal. The science around germs and their role in infections was still in the early days. J & J’s products helped the medical community apply its evolving and deeper understanding. In 1949, J & J formed Ethicon Suture Laboratories, now known as just Ethicon and part of the company’s MedTech division. Through the subsidiary, J & J has expanded its line of surgical products. Today, J & J’s surgery portfolio includes instrumentation, energy devices, stapling systems, wound closure, biosurgery products, and digital and robotic technologies used in hospitals and surgical centers worldwide. Ethicon’s extensive presence in operating rooms could give J & J a leg up as it introduces Ottava to surgeons and hospitals already familiar with its products. It may also create opportunities for J & J to bundle Ottava with other surgical tools, according to Dr. Jacob Greenberg, an associate professor of surgery at Duke University and a paid consultant for J & J. “If your [hospital] system is a J & J system — meaning it uses Ethicon sutures and Ethicon staplers and Ethicon energy sources — I think they could probably provide some decrease in the cost of those if your system also takes on Ottava,” said Greenberg. “They’ll have opportunities to bundle together a lot of their product lines to drive implementation,” he said. J & J’s surgery business has generated $5.16 billion in revenue through the first six months of the year, up 4.3% year over year; that’s roughly 30% of total MedTech sales. MedTech’s other main focuses going forward are cardiovascular and vision. The cardiovascular business includes Impella heart pumps, catheters to treat abnormal heart rhythms, and Shockwave Medical’s devices used to break down calcium built up in arteries; J & J acquired Shockwave in May 2024. Vision sells consumer-facing Acuvue contact lenses, along with tools and implants used by eye doctors in surgery. J & J is in the process of divesting its orthopedics business, focused on things like knee and shoulder implants, through a spin-off or outright sale. The company announced the decision in October 2025, saying it would allow the MedTech division to focus on “higher-growth and higher-margin markets.” J & J said the process would take 18 to 24 months to complete. When it happens, the surgery, cardiovascular and vision businesses will have the MedTech spotlight all to themselves. “Surgery is the major opportunity to really to catapult our growth, and that comes down to our belief in Ottava,” said Tim Schmid, the global head of J & J’s MedTech division, on an earnings call in January, before the system secured FDA approval. In July, CEO Joaquin Duato called Ottava “one of the most significant MedTech innovations we will bring to market this decade.” Though Ottava represents J & J’s major entrance in the robotic general surgery market, the company does have a more niche robotic offering used in bronchoscopy procedures, which involve the lungs and airways. That product is called Monarch, which J & J acquired through the purchase of Auris Health in 2019. Ottava, by contrast, was developed organically inside J & J and targets the much larger, more lucrative general surgery market. For now, Ottava is approved for use in 10 general surgery procedures, including gallbladder and spleen removal, gastric bypass, a specific type of hernia repair, and an operation to treat severe acid reflex. A clinical trial is underway to expand its approval into a another type of hernia surgery, and urology and gynecology procedures are additional targets on the horizon. “Certainly, our expectation is that our robot will be available for use in the majority of surgical procedures,” Schmid said last month during an Ottava investor briefing. The competitors J & J is entering a general surgery market dominated by one company: Intuitive Surgical, which is based in Sunnyvale, California. While Intuitive has a market capitalization of roughly $130 billion, much smaller than J & J’s roughly $670 billion market value, the company is more singularly focused on the operating room. Intuitive’s da Vinci surgical system was first cleared by the FDA in 1997 for assisting in surgery . In 2000, the da Vinci system received authorization for performing surgery, paving the way for it to become the industry standard. It is currently on its fifth generation; the FDA first cleared the da Vinci 5 in 2024. Over 20 million patients have been treated using the da Vinci platform since its inception, according to the company . In 2025, total procedures for its da Vinci surgical robot grew 18% to over 3.1 million. The da Vinci system is generally cleared for use in a wide range of soft-tissue procedures, including thoracic and head-and-neck surgery, gynecology, and certain cardiac procedures. The specific clearances do vary across generation of the system and country. For example, the FDA cleared the da Vinci 5 for cardiac procedures earlier this year, but it’s still awaiting a green light from European regulators. At the end of June, the global installed base of da Vinci systems stood at 11,710, up 12% from a year ago. There were 6,615 systems in the U.S. and 5,095 outside the country. Intuitive installed another 468 da Vinci systems in the second quarter, with almost 60% of those in the U.S. and the rest internationally. Intuitive’s lead is reinforced by several financing options: outright purchase, fixed-payment, or usage-based agreements. Of the 468 da Vinci systems installed in the second quarter, about 46% were purchased outright, 28% were placed under usage-based arrangements, and 26% were acquired through fixed-payment agreements. Getting the systems into hospitals, clinics, and surgery centers is the first step, but Intuitive actually generates most of its revenue from instruments and accessories used during procedures. It is a classic razor-and-razorblade model. The more procedures done using da Vinci systems, the better for this recurring revenue stream. In addition to da Vinci, Intuitive’s Ion system is a competitor to J & J’s Monarch in bronchoscopy. Instruments and accessories are on track to represent roughly 60% of Intuitive’s projected $11.76 billion in revenue this year, according to FactSet. System sales are modeled to be roughly 25%, while the remainder comes from services — generated by field service engineers and specialists who do installation, repairs and other technical support, among other things. The familiarity that surgeons and hospital staff have with Intuitive’s systems and instruments, and its global network of field service engineers, represent significant advantages for the company as it faces new competition from J & J and Medtronic in the U.S. Intuitive is also encountering competition in China from a number of domestic players in that market. Medtronic has a little head start against J & J after the FDA greenlit its Hugo system late last year. Hugo was initially approved for urologic procedures, with plans to expand into general surgery and gynecology in the U.S. Hugo has already been on the market in Europe for a couple of years. “By the end of the fiscal year, we expect Hugo to surpass 50,000 completed procedures, with procedure growth continuing at more than twice the market rate,” CEO Geoff Martha said on Medtronic’s fiscal 2027 first-quarter earnings call. The company expects to have 250 Hugo units installed by year-end, underscoring Intuitive’s lead and the work ahead for rivals. J & J’s plan For J & J to chip away at Intuitive’s dominance, Ottava has to be a standout offering that provides something meaningfully different. J & J executives believe the design of Ottava does exactly that. Ottava has robotic arms that fold directly into the operating table, a first-of-its-kind design. With the push of a button, the arms can position themselves for the planned procedure. Intuitive’s da Vinci models are detached from operating tables and mounted on large carts or booms that need to be wheeled in. While Medtronic touts Hugo for its flexibility, the system still involves multiple carts for the robotic arms that must be wheeled into the operating room. Ottava occupies 30% to 50% less space than traditional robotic systems, according to J & J, making the reduced footprint one of the features that could incentivize hospitals to invest in the system and expand robotic surgery programs without needing to renovate or expand existing infrastructure. “We believe that there’s going to be a push for [Ottava] from nurses, from surgeons, and from hospital administrators,” J & J’s Abouhalka said on an August investor call. Dr. Erik Wilson, a UT Health Houston physician and lead investigator for the Ottava clinical study, said that Ottava has “a nice workflow” to it. “At the end of the day, it just needs to work well,” said Wilson, who’s also a paid consultant for J & J. “It needs to be reliable, and I think they’ve worked very hard on that.” Other surgeons have also given Ottava a cosign. In a note to clients in July, analysts at TD Cowen said multiple surgeons who attended the Society of Robotic Surgery annual meeting “highlighted Ottava as the best-positioned robotic system to compete with Intuitive in time.” Not everyone is convinced Ottava poses a threat to Intuitive. Oppenheimer analysts upgraded Intuitive Surgical to a buy-equivalent rating in August, arguing that U.S. competition is currently a “non-factor.” “Field checks suggest some unique workflow challenges for Ottava that limit long-term appeal,” wrote analysts, citing sterilization difficulties. The analysts also noted limited production capacity for Ottava in 2026 and 2027. However, Oppenheimer analysts aren’t completely counting J & J out. By 2030, analysts estimated that J & J could capture 15% of the U.S. robotic surgery market, compared to 75% for Intuitive and 10% for others. Investors should keep their expectations in check for when Ottava will start to sway J & J’s reported results. Scaling up Ottava won’t happen as quickly as launching, say, a new pharmaceutical product. Schmid, the MedTech division leader, said the company is taking a “very disciplined approach to commercialization with Ottava,” starting with a select group of hospitals before expanding capabilities, instruments, indications and geographies as the platform scales. The company is also pursuing regulatory registrations in Western Europe and Japan as part of its global rollout. J & J also hasn’t disclosed much detail about what Ottava will cost hospitals, but the company says it’s carefully considering its pricing models as it works to drive adoption. Intuitive told CNBC that for the second quarter, the average selling price for its purchased da Vinci systems was $1.59 million. Surgical selling prices for da Vinci, according to Intuitive, may vary based on the model, configuration, and geography. The price for Ottava is still unclear, and it’s still too early to know how much it will ultimately contribute to J & J’s overall MedTech unit. But management isn’t shy about its ambitions. “We are absolutely adamant that this will be a financially material program for Johnson & Johnson by the end of the decade,” Schmid said. For now, Wall Street is likely factoring in a “minimal” contribution from Ottava in the coming years, analysts at UBS told clients recently, while initiating coverage of J & J’s stock with a buy rating and price target of $320 a share. As a result, UBS argued consensus estimates for J & J’s surgery business growing 3% annually over the 2026 to 2030 timeframe is “likely conservative and could be the most meaningful source of total MedTech upside should Ottava ramp faster than expected.” As the launch progresses, Citi analyst Joanne Wuensch said J & J will need to provide much more data in the coming months, including the number of robots placed and sold, utilization per robot, additional regulatory approvals for procedures or specific tools, and revenue from the system. “Anything that they can call out that indicates how, first in a limited launch — and then in a full market release — adoption is going” will be important, said Wuensch, who has a buy rating and $298 price target on the stock. “It’s an exciting time for improving surgical procedures robotically, many different types of surgical procedures,” she told CNBC. “None of it comes immediately because of the sales cycle and the capital expenditure cycle within the hospital, but I think the technology value drives adoption.” Botton line For the Club, Ottava is just another reason to remain bullish on J & J. Our optimism is primarily stemming from accelerating growth in its pharmaceutical business, though, rather than MedTech. Jim Cramer has championed Johnson & Johnson for its robust portfolio, which includes a franchise of multiple myeloma cancer treatments and a new oral treatment for plaque psoriasis, Icotyde. “It has the most potential blockbusters of any drug company on Earth,” Jim said during the August Monthly Meeting. J & J also recently settled talc ovarian cancer litigation that weighed on the company for over a decade, which Jim touted as a nice win. We added to our J & J position twice this summer, on June 1 around $222 per share and more recently on Aug. 3 around $252. J & J shares closed on Sept. 3 at a record high of $278. During this week’s September Monthly Meeting, Jim said he does not expect the stock to blow us away after its recent run, but the pipeline is too strong for us to consider selling. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long JNJ. 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