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 pros over the past few trading days.

We can start with TIBCO Software (Nasdaq: TIBX). Stateside weakness for the middleware and infrastructure software provider was no match for strength in the company's life sciences, health care, and retail sectors of its business. TIBCO's adjusted profit of $0.26 a share landed comfortably ahead of the $0.23 a share that Mr. Market was expecting.

Apollo Group (Nasdaq: APOL) gave the for-profit post-secondary-education market a boost by blowing past the pros. The parent company of the University of Phoenix virtual campus served up a quarterly profit of $1.20 a share.

Sure, Apollo's showing was far less than the $1.45 a share it rang up a year earlier, but Wall Street was settling for a profit of $0.97 a share.

Lennar (NYSE: LEN) also built on its improving foundation. The homebuilder's latest quarterly profit tripled to $0.21 a share. Analysts figured that the real estate developer would only generate net income of $0.17 a share.

We can't say that the homebuilders are truly back, though. Just two days after Lennar's report, peer KB Home (NYSE: KBH) posted a wider deficit than the market was projecting.

Moving in the right direction
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. If that's not up your alley just yet, you can still check out a free special report detailing the next trillion dollar revolution.

Either way, come back next week to learn about more stocks that blew the market away in the coming days.