There is nothing like surpassing expectations on Wall Street. It's a company's way of letting the whole world know that the professional number-crunchers, who thought they had the company all figured out, undershot the stock's true earnings power. Topping targets breeds confidence. If you can do so consistently, odds are better than fair that your stock will beat the market averages handily.

So let's take a closer look at a few of the companies that humbled the prognosticators this past week.

We'll start with JAMDAT Mobile (NASDAQ:JMDT). The specialist in cell-phone games reported adjusted profits of $0.30 a share. Backing out a one-time tax benefit, results clocked in at $0.23 a share. Earlier in the year, the company had guided investors to expect just $0.18 a share. Analysts were perched at the $0.19-per-share mark, in part because the company also trounced its public guidance a quarter earlier.

Through acquisitions and crafty partnerships, JAMDAT is the wireless distributor of everything from Tetris to Doom to Activision's (NASDAQ:ATVI) popular Tony Hawk skateboarding game. However, the stock fell sharply on Friday despite the amazing quarter because the company trimmed its third-quarter forecast substantially. Yes, earnings surprises can cut both ways.

Echostar (NASDAQ:DISH) was another topper. Despite playing second fiddle in the satellite television space to DirecTV (NYSE:DTV), the company delivered a winning broadcast. Profits grew tenfold for the company on 11.5 million subscribers. Reported earnings of $1.89 a share for the period weren't entirely organic. There was a one-time tax benefit of $1.31 per share added in there. However, lop that off and the company still earned a respectable $0.58 per share, well above the market's expectations of just $0.44 per share.

Medical-device-component maker Greatbatch (NYSE:GB) also left the market gasping for air. The company's $0.34-per-share second-quarter showing smoked analysts waiting at the $0.21-per-share bus stop. Operating margins may have slipped, but the company's robust 20% top-line growth helped push the bottom line higher.

JAMDAT, Greatbatch, and Echostar are three completely different companies. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the first time all three were mentioned in the same sentence! However, with the exception of JAMDAT watering down its outlook for the rest of the year, these are the type of companies that growth investors should be paying attention to. Part of the reason that our Rule Breakers newsletter service has more than tripled the S&P 500's market return is that many of our recommendations have gone on to surpass profit targets every single quarter. Winning selections like Steiner Leisure (NASDAQ:STNR) and Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) have done just that since we started actively tracking their performance. Want in? Check out a 30-day trial subscription.

Come back next Monday to learn about more stocks that blew the market away.

Activision is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendation.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a fan of toppers, but he does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned 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.