Texas Instruments Sells Sunnyvale Park to Intuitive Surgical - Analyst Blog

Texas Instruments (TXN) recently sold a 15-acre private park in Sunnyvale to the maker of the da Vinci robotic surgery system, Intuitive Surgical. The price wasn't disclosed.

The park was marketed on Loopnet as a development site. The park is located on 945 Kifer Road, just across the street from Intuitive's headquarters at 1020 Kifer Road. It comprises meandering ponds, a soccer field and baseball diamond. It has been used exclusively for years by the employees of National Semiconductor and Texas Instruments.

Intuitive has been growing rapidly. At the end of 2013, it employed about 2,800 workers compared to the 2362 it employed in 2012.

Intuitive's da Vinci system is a platform for robotically assisted, minimally invasive surgery. Revenues in the three months ending Sep 30 were $550.1 million compared with $499 million in the year-ago period. In April this year, it unveiled its next-gen system, the da Vinci Xi. Intuitive says it can be used for more types of minimally invasive surgeries.

Texas Instruments has been seeking to monetize unnecessary land holdings. It recently sold real estate in Santa Clara to Lennar Commercial.

According to Hanson Hom, Sunnyvale's planning director, the site can accommodate development of up to 45% floor-area ratio. He believes that anyone hoping to develop the land would need to complete a traffic analysis but the entire approval process could take about six months.

Texas Instruments currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Investors interested in the sector may also consider stocks like Geeknet, Inc. (GKNT), Mercadolibre, Inc. (MELI) and Overstock.com Solutions, Inc. (OSTK). All of them carry a Zacks Rank #2.

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