We posted Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) earnings announcement on September 12th, which was released a few days before other companies in its industry (investment banking/brokerage). Days later, most of the other brokerages that announced similar results that caused their stocks to move up on the news. Despite how obvious this concept may seem, many investors do not realize this correlation between companies within the same industry. Note the chart below, which illustrates Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), and Lehman Brothers (LEH) - the three major players in the investment banking/brokerage industry:

Notice the strong correlation between the three companies - especially the jumps in price after the earnings announcements. Depending on the market, many large companies announce earnings similar to their peers. Therefore, if an early-reporting company beats analysts with strong earnings, it is worth the time to check out other companies in the industry. This is especially true if the operating results note a strong "macro environment" helping their growth as opposed to internal changes.

You can find companies in the same industry by visiting Google Finance, and you can find their 8k and 10k filings at SECFilings.