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 Intuitive Surgical (ISRG -0.41%).
You've got to hand it to the company behind the da Vinci robotic arm surgical system. Hospitals may be scaling back on expenditures, but Intuitive Surgical's system is too much of a win-win for administrations to gloss over: less fatigue and more procedures for surgeons; cleaner incisions and faster recovery times for patients.
You also have to hand it to Intuitive Surgical's ability to operate on prognostications. After earning $3.54 a share last week -- ahead of the $3.51 a share that Wall Street was forecasting -- Intuitive Surgical has now beaten analyst profit targets for 14 consecutive quarters.
Joe's Jeans (NASDAQ: JOEZ) also managed to beat the pros -- one leg at a time.
The sellers of premium denim at the retail and wholesale level surprised the market with a quarterly profit of $0.02 a share on a 25% surge in net sales. Wall Street was banking on a small deficit. With premium apparel selling so well, it leads one to wonder why larger rival True Religion (NASDAQ: TRLG) may be considering an exit strategy instead of milking this welcome trend a bit longer.
Finally, we have Uranium Energy (UEC -0.73%) stepping up. Even though the spot price of uranium continues to trade at a premium to the marginal cost of conventional mine production at $45 a pound, Uranium Energy still posted a quarterly loss. The good news here is that the uranium producer's deficit of $0.05 a share was slightly less than what the market was expecting.
