Reporting earnings is more than just a quarterly corporate event. Like the recent midterm elections, the results help enlighten us about the collective climate of the entities we're tracking. If a company's bottom line manages to zoom past where analyst profit targets, it's a good sign that the thankfully misunderstood stock will continue to provide investing opportunities.
Let's take a look at a few of these beaters that humbled the prognosticators this past week.
We'll start with eCollege
I'll concede that eCollege hasn't exactly vindicated my upbeat outlook on the company as a turnaround situation, but it's definitely hanging in there. On Thursday, eCollege posted earnings of $0.07 a share on a 16% top-line spurt. On an adjusted basis, earnings clocked in flat at $0.15 a share, and it's on that basis that Wall Street was willing to settle for $0.14 a share. I won't applaud the contraction of margins for the period, but I can appreciate the company ultimately besting analysts.
Then we have Stock Advisor pick Priceline.com
Priceline's healthy report contrasts nicely to the relatively lackluster numbers put out by rival Expedia
NetEase
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.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a fan of toppers. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.