3 Stocks That Blew the Market Away

Every week, I take a look at a few companies that lapped their profit targets. Leaving Wall Street's pros with quizzical looks on their faces can be a good thing. It usually means that the companies in question have more in the tank than analysts figured, and capital appreciation often follows.

Because things were quiet on the earnings front over the holidays, I figured I'd kick off 2007 by taking a look at a few companies that humbled the prognosticators throughout 2006.

We'll start with Apple Computer (NASDAQ:AAPL). Even though we all know about the renaissance at the personal-computing pioneer, and the halo effect of the iPod on Apple's other product lines, the pros still don't appear to get it. Let's see how fiscal 2006 shaped up for the company.

The four market-thumping quarters shouldn't really be much of a surprise here. Apple has now clocked in ahead of analyst targets for 15 consecutive quarters. Will analysts finally get it right in the year ahead? There still isn't much of an iPod-killer out there -- sorry, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) -- and those "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads continue to beef up the perceived value of Apple as a platform choice for the masses.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) was another topper. The search-engine giant stumbled in the final quarter of 2005, the first time in the company's brief public history that it came up short. Would it bounce back in 2006? You bet.

We won't know about the final quarter of Google's year for a few more weeks, but it's clear that the company regained its stride. The paid-search leader's history of coming out on top was one of the reasons why I felt that it was a bad call for folks to vote Google as the worst-performing stock for 2007. Naturally, we'll have 12 months to see how that ultimately plays out.

Lastly, we have Global Payments (NYSE:GPN). The processor of financial transactions has beaten Wall Street's numbers for 17 quarters in a row. The company will post its results for the fiscal second quarter of 2007 later this week, but let's take a look back at how it fared in fiscal 2006.

Well done. Mowing down the pros is a beautiful sight to see. Let's hope that all of the perennial market-thumpers keep it going in 2007.

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. Microsoft is an Inside Value pick. The Fool has a disclosure policy .