3 Stocks That Blew the Market Away

Every week, I take a look at a few companies that surpassed their profit targets. Leaving Wall Street's pros with quizzical looks usually means that the companies have more in the tank than the analysts figured, and capital appreciation often follows.

So let's take a look at a few companies that humbled the prognosticators this past week.

We can start with Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq: ISRG). The company behind the robotic arms that are revolutionizing the surgical process on operating tables everywhere earned $1.04 per share during the third quarter. Wall Street was looking for a profit of only $0.80 a share. Intuitive has now beaten estimates in each of the past 20 quarters.

eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) is another topper. The online auction marketplace earned $0.41 a share before charges during the quarter, well ahead of the market's $0.33-per-share target. True, the performance got a boost from a favorable overall tax rate, while auction listings keep trending lower. One also can't simply overlook the $1.4 billion Skype-related impairment charge. Still, the "buy it now" button just looks all the more tempting when eBay shops victoriously.

Finally, we take a sip of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO). The pop star earned $0.71 a share in syrupy-sweet profits, just ahead of Wall Street's forecast of $0.68 per share. Even with booming ethanol demand driving corn (and, by proxy, corn syrup) prices higher, the soft-drink industry is doing just fine. Rival PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) also beat the street a week earlier, while ankle-biters in the industry such as Hansen Natural (Nasdaq: HANS) and Jones Soda (Nasdaq: JSDA) are also growing nicely. In other words, the carbonated-beverage sector is more fizz than flat.