Intuitive Surgical ( ISRG ) shares are more expensive today than all but a half-dozen or so other large-cap stocks, and one of those sells the only effective treatments for a couple of fatal diseases. So is Intuitive Surgical really so special that it’s worth such a fancy price? Possibly.

Surely no one who bought the shares in the past couple of years is complaining about their price, even though some of those buyers paid even higher valuations. Share price gains of more than 80% since the beginning of 2010 help one forget any qualms about buying back then