CMR Surgical and Florida Hospital's Nicholson Center launched the first U.S. based training program for CMR's Versius Robotic System, Piper Jaffray analyst JP McKim tells investors in a research note. CMR plans to launch the Versius system in the U.S. in 2019, which makes it the next round of competition for Intuitive Surgical, says the analyst. However, he believes that while the introduction of new systems in the U.S. is worth monitoring, moving from training to full commercial launch is "always challenging especially with how long the capital sales processes take." With an upgrade cycle underway and the introduction of new systems in SP and Ion, McKim continues to expect Intuitive Surgical to deliver "strong growth" in 2019. He keeps an Overweight rating on the shares with a $625 price target. The stock in midday trading is down $4.69 to $510.94.