Don't settle for ordinary quarterly reports.

Every week, I take a look at three companies that beat market expectations, since I believe that it's the biggest factor in a stock beating the market. Leaving Wall Street's pros with stunned expressions can be a good thing. It usually means that the companies have more in the tank than analysts figured. Capital appreciation typically follows.

Let's take a look at a few companies that humbled the prognosticators over the past few trading days.

We can start with Apollo Group (Nasdaq: APOL). The postsecondary educator behind the University of Phoenix online campus earned an adjusted $1.74 a share in its fiscal third quarter, well ahead of the $1.30 a share it delivered a year ago and the $1.55 a share that the market was expecting.

Apollo's guidance for the current quarter was light enough to rattle investors somewhat, but this remains a sector that has held up well during the recession. The unemployed -- or unhappily employed -- are trying to brush up their skills and resumes. This has helped the entire sector as peers American Public Education (Nasdaq: APEI), Corinthian Colleges (Nasdaq: COCO), ITT Educational (NYSE: ESI), and DeVry (NYSE: DV) all surpassed analyst estimates in their latest quarters.

Lindsay (NYSE: LNN) is also sprinkling smiles on its shareholders. The agricultural irrigation systems specialist generated net income of $0.50 a share in its fiscal third quarter. The parched pros were actually expecting profitability to clock in lower than the $0.42 a share it served up a year earlier.

Finally, we have MSCI (NYSE: MXB) stacking up well against expectations. The market indexing pro earned an adjusted $0.35 a share during its fiscal second quarter, just ahead of the $0.31 a share that Wall Street was banking on.

It's important to keep watching the companies that surpass expectations. Over time, it will be a lucrative experience for investors as the market rewards the overachievers. That's the kind of surprise that 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.