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.

Since the Fourth of July holiday was naturally quiet on the earnings front, let's take a look at a few companies that humbled the prognosticators this past quarter.

We all know that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is hot right now. You didn't have to catch the long lines of iPhone shoppers to know that. Between the iPod, the Mac, and now the hot-selling cell phones, Apple has been on fire.

So it shouldn't have come as a surprise to find Mac Daddy earn $0.87 a share this past quarter after it had posted a profit of $0.47 a share a year earlier. The rub here is that analysts were expecting the company to earn just $0.64 per share. A slow lot? Perhaps. Apple has obliterated earnings targets for 17 consecutive quarters now. One would think that the pros would tire of underestimating Apple's profit power.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) is another perpetual topper. The maker of robotic arm surgical equipment -- yes, it's as cool as it sounds -- pushed its streak of market-thumping quarters to 18 this past quarter. The popular Rule Breakers newsletter recommendation earned $0.62 a share, well ahead of the $0.53 per-share mark where Wall Street was lying down on the operating table. Scrubs, indeed.

Let's wrap up this quarterly overview with Disney (NYSE:DIS). The company has been on a tear since Bob Iger took over as CEO. The family entertainment giant has now beaten the Street for eight straight quarters. It posted a fiscal second quarter profit of $0.44 a share back in May. Investors were braced for what would have been essentially flat performance over the $0.37 per share it had earned in its 2006 second quarter. Hit films, hot television shows, and frenetic turnstile clicks at the theme parks help.

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.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a fan of toppers. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story, save for Disney, a Stock Advisor selection. He is also part of the  Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.