A soft preliminary second-quarter sales report from Hansen Medical Inc. (HNSN) suggests the environment for selling expensive capital equipment to hospitals, which have cut big spending during the recession, isn't getting any better.

Shares among companies making capital equipment, including Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG), fell on Tuesday following the report from Hansen, which makes a robotic medical system called "Sensei" that positions catheters for medical procedures.

The company anticipates sales between $3.1 million and $3.3 million in the second quarter, which is less than half of what Wall Street analysts, on average, had expected, according to Thomson Reuters. A key issue was weak sales of Sensei systems, which cost $585,000 on average in the first quarter.

Hospitals beaten up by the turbulent economy, which has increased the number of uninsured patients while limiting access to financing, have reduced ability to buy big-ticket machines. This constraint has weighed on companies peddling pricy devices in recent quarters and doesn't appear to be alleviating.

Wells Fargo analyst Michael Matson noted that one-third of hospitals have fiscal years that end in June, which may have tightened budgets toward the end of that month. That, in turn, could mean the second quarter will look worse than an already rough first quarter for capital-equipment sales.

"Bottom line - we remain cautious on the entire capital equipment group," Matson said in a research note.

Shares of Hansen dropped following the preliminary sales announcement late Monday and were recently off $1.60, or 33.9%, to $3.13.

Shares of Intuitive Surgical, which makes pricey motion-capture robots often used in prostate-removal surgery, traded down $6.46, or 4.1%, to $149.63. Shares of Varian Medical Systems Inc. (VAR), which makes cancer-treatment systems, traded 2.6% lower to $33.15.

Hansen Chief Executive Frederic Moll said in a release that Sensei system sales "were adversely affected by general macroeconomic conditions that continue to significantly impact our potential customers' capital spending."

Based on the second-quarter results and current market conditions, Hansen withdrew its prior guidance for system placements this year.

Oppenheimer analyst Amit Hazan recently surveyed 35 hospital financial chiefs who represent 48 U.S. hospitals to examine capital spending trends. Generally, he found 77% of respondents cut their capital spending budgets during their fiscal year by a median 30%.

"We generally expect (the second quarter) to be worse sequentially," Hazan said in a research note. He recommended avoiding Intuitive Surgical, Varian Medical, Hologic Inc. (HOLX), Mindray Medical International Ltd. (MR) and Accuray Inc. (ARAY).

-By Jon Kamp, Dow Jones Newswires; 617-654-6728; jon.kamp@dowjones.com