Don't settle for ordinary quarterly reports.

Every week I take a look at three companies that beat market expectations, 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 pros over the past few trading days.

We can start with Guess? (NYSE: GES).

The apparel specialist may have seen revenue slip by 2% and profitability take an even bigger hit, but it's all about matching reality to expectations. Guess? shares popped higher on the report, as its net income of $0.30 a share was comfortably above the $0.26 a share that Wall Street was forecasting.

Cracker Barrel (Nasdaq: CBRL) may be battling activist shareholder Biglari Holdings (NYSE: BIG), but it seems as if the throwback eatery chain with attached gift shops is doing just fine on its own. Adjusted earnings soared 48% to $0.86 a share in its latest quarter.

Analysts were settling for a profit of just $0.75 a share, but what else is new? Cracker Barrel has landed ahead of the pros every quarter over the past year.

Finally we have MakeMyTrip (Nasdaq: MMYT) turning getaways into getting away from where the prognosticators are perched. India's leading travel portal scored a profit of $0.08 a share in its latest quarter. Analysts were expecting net income of $0.06 a share.

MakeMyTrip is one of the few pure plays on India's promising yet still very nascent dot-com industry. Portal operator Rediff.com -- another of the rare Indian Internet companies that trade on a stateside exchange -- reported Tuesday morning.

Moving in the right direction
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. If that's not up your alley just yet, you can still check out a free special report detailing the next trillion dollar revolution.

Either way, come back next week to learn about more stocks that blew the market away in the coming days.

If these three victors aren't enough, check out a new report that reveals three hidden winners in a booming niche that will only get bigger in the future. It's a free report, so check it out soon.