Every week, I look at a few companies that lapped their profit targets. Baffling Wall Street's pros can be a good thing. It usually means that the companies in question have more in the tank than analysts figured; capital appreciation often follows.

Let's examine a few companies that humbled the prognosticators this past week.

We'll start with J.M. Smucker (NASDAQ:SJM). The jelly giant earned $0.75 a share in its latest quarter, well ahead of the $0.63 per share the market had expected. A lot of its strength came from its Jif peanut butter line. With rival ConAgra's (NYSE:CAG) Peter Pan sidelined with a salmonella-related recall, Jif was a brisk seller at the supermarket.

La-Z-Boy (NYSE:LZB) is another topper, though that doesn't mean the maker of cozy recliners can rest easy. Earnings before charges came in at less than half of what the company had earned a year earlier. However, stacked against Wall Street's target of $0.07 a share, a profit of $0.09 per share proved a welcome development for the Income Investor newsletter recommendation.

Lastly, we have Benihana (NASDAQ:BNHN). Casual dining chains have come under fire lately; higher fuel prices eat into potential patrons' disposable income, while higher commodity prices batter margins. Benihana isn't perfect, but its chain of teppanyaki-style Japanese eateries is doing all right. The restaurateur earned $0.23 a share in its latest quarter, $0.03 per share better than analysts expected.

Keep watching the companies that lap expectations. Over time, it can be a pleasant experience for investors as the market rewards the overachievers. That's the kind of surprise we look for in the Rule Breakers newsletter service. Want in? Check out a 30-day trial subscription.

Either way, come back next Monday to learn about more stocks that blew the market away.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a fan of toppers. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool's disclosure policy is the tops, but it's neither the Colisseum nor the Louvre Museum.