3 Stocks That Blew the Market Away

Every week, I take a look at a few companies that lapped their profit targets. Leaving Wall Street's pros with quizzical looks on their faces can be a good thing. It usually means that the companies have more in the tank than analysts figured and capital appreciation often follows.

Let's take a look at a few companies that humbled the prognosticators this past week.

We can start with Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN  ) . The leading online retailer saw its first-quarter earnings climb 30% to $0.34 a share, comfortably ahead of the $0.32 a share that the market was expecting.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL  ) also took a bite out of low-balling analysts. Fueled by healthy growth in its Mac desktops and MacBook laptops, Apple earned $1.16 a share. Wall Street was ready to settle for a profit of just $1.07, but what else is new? Apple has now beaten the market's profit targets for 21 consecutive quarters. A few years ago, Apple was a threat to portable music players with the runaway success of its iPod. Now, Apple is eating into the bigger ticket realm of CPUs, where companies like Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) can't be happy that the "I'm a Mac" guy is trouncing his "I'm a PC" buddy.

Finally, we have Hasbro (NYSE: HAS  ) turning playtime into serious business. The toy maker surprised investors by earning $0.25 a share, blowing past the pros like one of its Mr. Potato Head spuds coming undone as it tumbles down stairs. Analysts were expecting a profit of just $0.14 a share.  

Maybe they figured that toy makers only shine in the second half of the year. Maybe they mistook Hasbro for loss-posting peers like Mattel (NYSE: MAT  ) or LeapFrog (NYSE: LF  ) . Maybe they will just miss again, since they have underestimated Hasbro's earnings potential in each of the past five quarters.

So keep watching the companies that lap expectations. Over time, it will be a rewarding experience for investors, as the market rewards the overachievers. That's the kind of surprise we look for in the Rule Breakers newsletter service. Come back next Monday to learn about more stocks that blew the market away.