Why settle for ordinary quarterly reports?

Each week, I take a peek at three companies that beat analysts' expectations, since I believe that kind of outperformance is the biggest factor in a stock beating the market. Leaving Wall Street's pros with puzzled looks on their faces can be a good thing. It usually means that the companies have more in the tank than analysts figured. Capital appreciation often follows.

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

We can start with Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). The world's leading search engine grew its bottom line by 27% to $5.89 a share, roughly doubling the year-over-year bottom-line increase that Wall Street was expecting. Rival Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) posts tomorrow; let's see whether it can keep the search party going.

Investors banking on JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) also made out nicely. The financial services giant put up a quarterly profit of $0.82 a share, barreling past the pros perched at the $0.52-a-share target.

Finally, we have Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) checking in to win. Expectations were high for the investment banker. Analysts predicted $4.24 a share in its latest quarter, after Goldman scored a profit of just $1.81 a share a year earlier. Instead, Goldman rang up $5.25 a share.

JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs' showings are refreshingly strong, especially since financial bellwethers Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) posted lossesduring the same three months.

Keep watching the companies that surpass expectations. Over time, it will be a profitable 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.

This article was originally published as 3 Stocks That Blew the Market Awayon Fool.com

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