Don't 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 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 prognosticators over the past few trading days.

We can start with TIBCO Software (Nasdaq: TIBX). The provider of business integration management solutions earned $0.17 a share in its latest quarter, ahead of both the $0.13 a share it rang up a year ago and the $0.15 a share that the market was expecting.

Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) is another welcome overachiever in enterprise software. The company building cost-effective subscriptions on top of open-source Linux software generated a profit of $0.19 a share in its latest quarter. Wall Street was settling for net income to clock in at $0.18 a share.

Red Hat bumped its guidance higher, setting itself apart from desktop-publishing giant Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE), which saw its stock tank after landing ahead of analyst targets but offering an uninspiring near-term outlook.

Finally, we have Nike (NYSE: NKE) just doing it. The athletic footwear and clothing behemoth ran past the pros perched at the $1.01 a share mark in projected profitability. Nike earned $1.14 a share, instead. It's a common misconception that folks avoid premium brands during soft economic times. Some of the hottest retailers -- posting sales growth of better than 50% in their latest quarters -- are lululemon athletica (Nasdaq: LULU) and Joe's Jeans (Nasdaq: JOEZ), selling pricey workout apparel and denim, respectively.

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.

Either way, come back next Monday to learn about more stocks that blew the market away.