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 look at a few companies that humbled the prognosticators this past week.

We can start with Take-Two Interactive (Nasdaq: TTWO). The video game publisher posted a non-GAAP loss of $0.31 a share. Red ink doesn't sound pretty, but this company also targeted a deficit of between $0.45 and $0.55 a share just a few weeks before its fiscal quarter came to a close. Revenue of $163.2 million also vastly exceeded Take-Two's own target of $90 million to $140 million.

This kind of report likely won't bring Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) back for another buyout run -- at least, not at its 2008 offering price of $26 -- but it's a welcome sign that the video game industry may have bottomed out.

Home Inns & Hotels (Nasdaq: HMIN) also checked in ahead of the pros, posting an adjusted profit of $0.26 a share. Analysts only expected net income of $0.19 a share. Home Inns is a great gauge for the hospitality industry in China, but stateside hoteliers aren't doing so badly, either. Marriott (NYSE: MAR) and Wyndham (NYSE: WYN) beat Wall Street estimates last month.

Finally, we have DISH Network (Nasdaq: DISH). The satellite-television provider may have lost in the courtroom with its prolonged bout against TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO), but it won on the bottom line in its latest quarter. DISH earned $0.40 a share, well ahead of the $0.32 a share that analysts were banking on.

Keep watching companies that surpass Wall Street's expectations. Over time, that vigilance could become a lucrative 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.