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 Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM). The wireless chip giant rode the smartphone craze to deliver an adjusted profit of $0.86 a share. Wall Street was banking on net income of $0.80 a share, but what else is new? Qualcomm's bested the pros for eight consecutive quarters.

Virtualization software leader VMware (NYSE: VMW) also landed comfortably ahead of the pros by earning $0.48 a share in its latest period. Analysts figured that it would surpass last year's $0.32 a share profit with a showing of $0.42 a share. VMware's strength also helped majority stakeholder EMC (NYSE: EMC) post impressive results a day later.

Finally, we have E*TRADE (Nasdaq: ETFC) coming through with strong earnings a week after larger rival Charles Schwab (Nasdaq: SCHW) beat the Street. Wall Street figured that the discount broker would reverse last year's quarterly deficit, but the eventual $0.16-a-share profit was comfortably ahead of the $0.12 a share in net income that was being targeted.

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.