Semiconductor Shortage Plagues Vicarious Surgical

Vicarious Surgical is showing some improvement in 2Q22 earnings but supply issues -especially those pertaining to semiconductors, continue to plague the surgical robotics company.  The earnings come at a time when the company is in the middle of making progress in the Beta 2 design of its surgical robotic system.

The Waltham, MA-based company is developing a system that combine human-like arms with virtual reality technology. The device is designed to perform minimally invasive abdominal surgery.  

During an earnings call, Adam Sachs, CEO of Vicarious Surgical pointed to limited semiconductors as an issue for the company.

“If these challenges continue, they can present a risk to our timeline,” Sachs said according to a Seeking Alpha transcript of the call.

Ryan Zimmerman, an analyst with BTIG, commented on the company’s ability to deal with the shortage.

“The benefit for [Vicarious Surgical], given their stage of development, is the company can pivot design to avoid some component risk,” Zimmerman said. “That said, it does cause an unnecessary distraction to development of a system (and if this aspect worsens, there could delays to projected timelines). Development dynamics aside, we believe investors are awaiting clarity on [Vicarious Surgical’s] clinical trial. Mgmt. noted after the earnings call that they continue to be in discussion with the FDA regarding the scope and scale of the clinical trial. 

The path has been challenging for Vicarious since it went public through a special purpose acquisition corporation merger with D8 Holdings in April of 2021. In 1Q22, the company had an adjusted net loss of $18.2 million, compared to the $5.2 million it lost in 1Q21. The firm also failed to meet consensus by about 2 cents.