Don't settle for ordinary quarterly reports.

I take a look at three companies that beat market expectations every week, 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 Home Depot (NYSE: HD). The home-improvement retailer earned its orange apron as quarterly profits soared 72% to $0.36 a share. Wall Street was settling for a profit of $0.31 a share. It was a mixed showing for its peers, as Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) landed ahead of the pros by a similar margin, but hardwood specialist Lumber Liquidators (NYSE: LL) missed its mark.

priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) had no problem clearing Wall Street's runway. The travel portal's adjusted net income also soared 72% to $3.40 a share, comfortably ahead of the $3.09 a share that Mr. Market was forecasting. It's hard to call this a surprise. priceline has topped bottom-line targets for 19 quarters in a row. However, rival Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) had come up short earlier this month.

Finally, we have OmniVision (Nasdaq: OVTI) smiling pretty for the camera. The maker of image sensor chips that are popular for camera-based smartphones and laptops earned $0.84 a share in its latest quarter, trouncing expectations of $0.58 a share.

OmniVision's stock soared 32% last Friday after the report. A sell-side analyst had downgraded the stock a day earlier. Hopefully, OmniVision managed to take a snapshot of that crow-eating moment for the analyst.

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.