As far as healthcare stocks go, drugmaker (NYSE: MRK) and medical device expert Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) haven't been the best of the bunch this year. Both are lagging the market in 2023. A lot is happening with these companies that is giving some investors cold feet, but there is a lot more that suggests that both remain excellent stocks to invest in despite their unimpressive performances this year.

Let's find out why Merck and Intuitive Surgical could make investors, especially patient ones, richer over the long run.

For a long time, Merck has relied on a single drug to do much of the heavy lifting in driving its sales in the right direction. That drug is Keytruda, which is approved to treat many different kinds of cancer. Keytruda continues to perform well. In the third quarter, its total sales of $6.3 billion increased by 17% year over year. Merck's total sales increased by 7% year over year to almost $16 billion. Its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) was $2.13, 15% higher than the year-ago period.

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Source Fool.com