3 Stocks That Blew the Market Away

Don't settle for ordinary quarterly reports.

I take a look at three companies that beat 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 pros over the past few trading days.

We can start with Oracle (NAS: ORCL) .

The enterprise software giant has an uncanny knack of landing ahead of the pros. Whether CEO Larry Ellison is a master of managing earnings or analysts are just slow, Oracle rarely misses on the bottom line. It wasn't any different this time around. Wall Street was holding out for a profit of $0.78 a share, and the software company came through with net income of $0.82 a share.

Rite Aid (NYS: RAD) is also prescribing a beat.

The drugstore chain isn't close to turning a profit, but it continues to inch in the right direction. It has now come through with narrower year-over-year deficits in six consecutive quarters. Its latest victory came on Thursday when Rite Aid's quarterly loss of $0.03 a share was better than both the $0.07 a share it served up last year and the $0.04 a share deficit that the pros were projecting.

Finally, we have Red Hat (NYS: RHT) tipping its hat to the market. Shares of the Linux-based software subscription provider took a hit on weak billings, but the company still managed to beat out the prognosticators calling for an adjusted profit of $0.27 a share.

Red Hat earned $0.30 a share, but Mr. Market can be finicky sometimes.

Moving in the right direction
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. If that's not up your alley just yet, you can still check out a free special report detailing the next trillion-dollar revolution.

Either way, come back next week to learn about more stocks that blew the market away in the coming days.

The article 3 Stocks That Blew the Market Away originally appeared on Fool.com.

The Motley Fool owns shares of Oracle. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz calls them as he sees them. He does not own shares in any of the stocks in this story. Rick is also part of theRule Breakersnewsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.

Copyright © 1995 - 2012 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.