3 Stocks That Blew the Market Away

Don't settle for ordinary quarterly reports.

I take a look at three companies that beat market expectations every week, since I believe that it's the biggest factor in a stock beating the market. Leaving Wall Street's pros with stunned expressions can be a good thing. It usually means that the companies have more in the tank than analysts figured. Capital appreciation typically follows.

Let's take a look at a few companies that humbled the prognosticators over the past few trading days.

We can start with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (Nasdaq: GMCR  ) .

Hours after Dunkin' Brands (Nasdaq: DNKN  ) went public on the strength of Dunkin' Donuts as a coffee play, the real java junkie stepped up with caffeinated results. Green Mountain's Keurig continues to be a runaway smash, pouring out a quarterly profit of $0.49 a share. Wall Street's bean counters were banking on net income of only $0.36 a share. The strong showing was enough to send Green Mountain barreling toward new highs, boosting the interest in home-brewed pop star SodaStream (Nasdaq: SODA  ) along the way.

Crocs (Nasdaq: CROX  ) is another market beater. Remember when investors were leaving the maker of resin shoes for dead a couple of years ago? They called Crocs a fad. Well, new product lines and international expansion have helped propel Crocs back into the growth spotlight. Sales climbed 30% in its latest quarter, while earnings soared 72% to $0.61 a share. Weak-shoed analysts were selling their soles at $0.44 a share.

This is a familiar place for Crocs. It has beaten Wall Street estimates by double-digit percentage margins in each of the past six quarters now.

Then there's Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU  ) . China's leading search engine saw its quarterly earnings nearly double to $0.72 a share, well ahead of the $0.66 a share that the market was targeting.

It's important to keep watching the companies that surpass expectations. Over time, it will be a lucrative experience for investors as the market rewards the overachievers. That's the kind of surprise that 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.