Why 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 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 over the past few trading days.
We can start with Infosys (Nasdaq: INFY). The IT outsourcing specialist posted a quarterly profit of $0.58 a share, well ahead of both the $0.52 a share that it earned a year ago and the $0.55 a share that analysts were expecting.
The results may come as a relief after Indian rival Satyam Computer Services' (NYSE: SAY) embarrassing accounting scandal, but what did investors think? Bernie Madoff's scam doesn't mean that all money managers are crooks. Enron's collapse doesn't mean that there aren't real energy trading companies out there.
Linear Technology (Nasdaq: LLTC) is another topper. The semiconductor manufacturer, which is the envy of many of its peers with pre-tax profit margins in the 30% to 40% range, has done it again. Linear's earnings of $0.38 a share were less than the $0.41 a share it scored a year ago, but Wall Street was only looking for $0.34 a share in net income.
Finally, we have Clarcor (NYSE: CLC) coming out a winner. The filtration company earned $0.56 a share in its latest quarter. Analysts were banking on profitability to clock in at $0.54 a share, just a smidgeon above the $0.53 a share it rang up a year earlier. With rivals like Donaldson (NYSE: DCI) and Pall (NYSE: PLL) also in good grooves, the filtration niche is proving itself to be recession-proof so far.
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. 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.
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