Don't settle for ordinary quarterly reports.

I believe that the biggest factor in a stock's ability to beat the market is its ability to beat the market's expectations. That's why I look every week at three companies that have humbled Wall Street's pros over the past few trading days. If a company has more in the tank than the analysts figured, capital appreciation often follows.

We can start with Take-Two Interactive (Nasdaq: TTWO). The video-game publisher scored an adjusted profit of $0.34 a share in its fiscal second quarter. Wall Street was banking on a $0.26 showing.

That's impressive for a company that typically flounders outside of its Grand Theft Auto installments. However, the recent success of BioShock 2 and Red Dead Redemption are proving that Take-Two isn't a one-trick pony. The company may have blundered in passing on Electronic Arts' (Nasdaq: ERTS) $26-per-share buyout offer in 2008, but after two years of kicking itself, it's finally using those same feet to move in the right direction.

Dollar General (NYSE: DG) also was no buck private. (See what I did there?) The thrift-store chain earned $0.42 a share in its latest quarter, well ahead of the market's $0.34 target.

Deep discounters are still in vogue as we claw our way out of the economic doldrums. Family Dollar (NYSE: FDO), Big Lots, and Dollar Tree also beat bottom-line estimates in their latest quarters.

Finally, we have lululemon athletica (Nasdaq: LULU) tripling its net income to $0.27 a share. The pros had penciled in a profit of $0.21 for the fast-growing retailer of high-end performance apparel. Then again, when comps soar by 35%, it's hard not to make analysts look silly.   

It's important to keep watching the companies that surpass expectations. Over time, doing so 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. And come back next Monday to learn about more stocks that blew the market away.