The Globe and Mail attempts to identify firms on the Toronto Stock Exchange with the largest earnings surprises over the last three months in its Wednesday, March 20, edition. The Globe's Michael Bowman writing in the Number Cruncher column says he researched, along with his colleague Allan Meyer, companies that announced earnings greater than analysts' estimates to see whether they outperformed the market averages. They started with companies greater than $200-million in market capitalization. Since oil and gas companies and real estate investment trusts are valued more on cash flow than on earnings, they were not included in today's search. The earnings-per-share surprise is the percentage increase of reported earnings compared with analysts' consensus estimates. The percentage change in earnings estimates is based on the next 12-month period following the latest earnings release. Monitoring these estimates could be a clue as to which companies might continue to surprise to the upside. Denison Mines reported an earnings surprise of 29 per cent and analysts are forecasting a 100-per-cent increase in earnings for the next 12 months. Denison's share price has remained relatively flat.