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 United Retail (Nasdaq: URGI). The plus-size apparel retailer is going out a winner. It announced quarterly earnings of $0.15 a share -- better than the consensus bottom-line target of $0.13 per share -- on the same day it announced it would be acquired at $13.70 a pop. United Retail runs the Avenue specialty retail concept.

Immunomedics (Nasdaq: IMMU) is another topper. The biotech posted a loss of $0.06 per share in its latest quarter. That is a smaller deficit than the $0.10 per share it posted a year ago and the $0.08 a share the pros were expecting. Sure, the number of shares outstanding has ballooned over the past year, making a net loss appear smaller after being divided by more shares, but analysts had baked that into their projections.

Finally we have JoS A. Bank Clothiers (Nasdaq: JOSB) fitting in nicely. The upscale apparel retailer earned $0.44 a share for its fiscal second quarter, comfortably ahead of the $0.42 per share Wall Street target. That chain has now outsmarted analysts in each of the last five quarters.

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. 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.