Is it really an earnings surprise if everyone knows it's coming? Steiner Leisure (NASDAQ:STNR) posted second-quarter results that comfortably topped Wall Street's targets. That's how it's been in 16 of the past 17 quarters. The lone exception wasn't even a miss, since the company's report simply matched analyst estimates that had been raised a week earlier.

So let's take a look at this new batch of predictable unpredictability. Steiner earned $0.61 a share in the June quarter, handily beating the $0.53 per share it had earned last year. Its latest figure was also higher than the $0.59-a-share mark that analysts had laid out. Revenues soared 20% higher to hit $117.2 million. Silly analysts -- they figured that Steiner was good for only a 15% top-line spurt.

I stumbled on Steiner a couple of years ago, when I noticed that most of the company's revenue was derived from running the shipboard spas for just about every major cruise line. Carnival (NYSE:CCL), Royal Caribbean (NYSE:RCL), NCL, and Disney (NYSE:DIS) had all entrusted their growing fleet of onboard spas to Steiner.

It has stayed that way ever since. Once, Princess tried to take two of its most promising ships in-house, but it failed miserably. A few months later, it was handing the keys back to Steiner.

Spotting Steiner early proved to be a sound move. It became one of the first recommendations for Rule Breakers subscribers, in the fall of 2004, and it has since sailed 72% higher.

That kind of run often makes a stock pricey, but Steiner's valuation is relatively sound. The company is fetching just 15 times this year's earnings and 13 times next year's projections. That's pretty cheap, even before we account for the company's history of trouncing estimates.

Can Steiner really keep doing this? Will lowballer analysts eventually see the light? As they say in the spa business, there's the rub.

If you want to read Rick's original buy report for Steiner and all of the updates along the way, take advantage of a 30-day guest pass that will grant you a trial subscription of the Motley Fool Rule Breakers service.

Longtime Fool contributorRick Munarrizwill never be confused with a metrosexual -- his shoes don't even match at the moment -- but he has taken in a pair of Steiner spa treatments on the Disney Magic. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story, save for Disney, which is aMotley Fool Stock Advisorselections. The Fool has adisclosure policy. Rick is also part of theRule Breakersnewsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.