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 have more in the tank than analysts figured, and capital appreciation often follows.
Let's take a look at a few companies that humbled the prognosticators this past week.
We'll start with Hasbro
It's an especially impressive performance considering that Star Wars-licensed toys fueled the company's 2005 results. It had to come through with its own lines this time -- and it did, thanks to strength in Playskool, Nerf, and its signature board games. Revenues may have inched just 4% higher, but the margins are a lot sweeter when you're selling your own brands.
Video game maker Atari
Can Atari do more with less? Apparently, there is nothing wrong with growing its own Test Drive franchise, dabbling in licensed properties like Dragonball Z, and dipping into its rich heritage.
Then we have Disney
Investors probably should have seen it coming, though. Disney has done nothing but lap market expectations over the past two years. It also had the benefit of releasing Cars and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest -- the two biggest films of the summer -- on DVD in the quarter.
So, 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.
Disney and Hasbro are Motley Fool Stock Advisor picks.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a fan of toppers. He does own shares of Disney. 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.