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 Williams (NYSE: WMB). The natural gas producer posted an adjusted quarterly profit of $0.44 a share from continuing operations. Analysts figured that Williams would match the $0.27 a share profit it delivered a year ago. It also announced well-received plans to split into two entities.

Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) also landed ahead of the pros. The satellite radio provider posted a small loss, but backing out one-time items results in a profit of $0.01 a share. Wall Street was settling for breakeven results.

Finally, we have NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) destroying analyst targets. The company that invented the graphics chip earned $0.23 a share in its latest quarter, ahead of the $0.16 a share that Mr. Market was expecting.

NVIDIA joins fellow tech bellwethers Dell (Nasdaq: DELL), Aruba Networks (Nasdaq: ARUN), and NetApp (Nasdaq: NTAP) in topping market projections. Dell and NVIDIA actually landed 43% to 44% ahead of where the pros were perched. You have to like that kind of analyst-humbling performance as we hopefully head into economic expansion.

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.