In recent months the stock has received several upgrades. The most recent, The Street reiterating a Buy due to the company's strong revenue growth, prominent return on equity, solid record of earnings per share growth and healthy growth in net income.

The Street's rating report shows that Alexion's revenue growth has surpassed the industry average of 3.9%. Revenue has risen 47% year over year, as well as, EPS growing to$ .91 vs $.53 the prior year. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive EPS growth and it looks as if that trend will continue.

To join Alexion's call:

Conference call: 866-804-6925, passcode 13237521

Replay: 888-286-8010, passcode 42568134

Audio webcast: www.alexionpharma.com

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in [[ALXN]] over the next 72 hours.

Analysts have revised DLR's earnings estimates higher for both 2012 and 2013. The average consensus sees 2012 increasing by .7% to $4.45, implying year-over-year growth of 9.6% while the 2013 estimate has increased 2.2% to $5.03 over the same time period, representing a year-over-year growth of 13.1%.

Digital Realty paid a dividend of $ .73 per share in the first quarter of 2012, which marked a 7.4% increase over the year-ago quarter. Since 2005, the company has raised its dividend 10 times from 24.4 cents, and even continued paying it during the recession. The current dividend payment affirms a yield of 4%.

To join DLR's call:

Conference call: 888-701-6680, passcode 95546174

Replay: 855-859-2056, passcode 95546174

Audio webcast: http://www.media-server.com/m/p/tqfa7y64

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in [[DLR]] over the next 72 hours.

U.S. auto sales figures offer one of the first snapshots of consumer demand in May. The rest of the automakers are scheduled to report their May sales later on Wednesday.

Economists polled by Reuters projected the industrywide annualized sales rate would be around 12.6 million in May, 8.6% higher than in May 2010.

But if these forecasts prove true, this will be the first time the annualized sales rate has dropped below 13 million since February. The May sales numbers come as analysts are raising concerns about a slowdown in the broader economy. (Reuters)

Obama Haggles With Republicans Over Cuts ~ House Republicans emerged from a White House meeting with President Obama indicating they broke no new ground in negotiations to raise the nation’s debt ceiling in exchange for reductions in spending.

Republican leaders including House Speaker John Boehner said the private session in the East Room focused on the impact of the government’s debt on the economy and jobs.

“‘If we’re going to get serious about creating jobs in America we’ve got to reduce some of the uncertainty,” Boehner said outside the White House. “Some of that uncertainty is caused by the giant debt that is facing our country.”

Republicans are holding to their demand that spending cuts exceed the needed increase in the government’s legal debt limit, he said. The meeting followed the House’s 97-318 vote yesterday defeating a measure that would have raised the $14.3 trillion debt limit by $2.4 trillion without spending reductions.

Negotiations over increasing the debt ceiling as part of a package of spending cuts began May 5, led by Vice President Joe Biden. There have been four meetings between the vice president and six congressional leaders. Biden has said progress is being made, and that negotiators are trying to find savings of $1 trillion over 10 years. (Bloomberg)

Weak Economy Pushing Rates Lower Than Fed Easing ~ Bad news on the economic front is ironically pushing interest rates lower than the Fed's quantitative easing program managed to.

The yield on the 10-year Wednesday slid under 3% on the latest disappointing reports on jobs and manufacturing. The Fed's controversial quantitative easing program ends at the end of the month, and in theory was to keep rates low and force investors into riskier investments as the Fed scooped up $600 billion in Treasury securities.

But a series of negative economic reports and worries about sovereign debt in Europe have driven investors into U.S. Treasurys, even as the Congressional debt ceiling debate creates queasiness about future U.S. funding of the unwieldy federal deficit.

The 10-year yield was last at 3% in December 2010, just about a month into the Fed's asset purchase program. It has slid to a low of 2.34% in October, just before the Fed began the extraordinary easing program in November.

"It's psychologically significant. It's not technically significant. There are more critical levels here. However, psychologically, it's going to get noted. From a purely technical level more important was the 200-day moving average at about 3.045. That was also the 50% retracement of the range since the pre-QE2 low in yields. It's notable," said David Ader, chief Treasury Strategist at CRT Capital.

"Now as we sort of get to the end of this game, the Fed (bond purchases) has taken so much paper out of the market it's created liquidity issues" as buyers rush into the bond market, said Ader. "You can argue that finally QE2 is helping."  (CNBC)

Investor Hunger for Foreign Tech Stocks Overrides Risk ~ It doesn’t hurt to be known as the Google of Russia.

Goldman invested $1.5 billion for the Libyan sovereign wealth fund in 2008, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.  It lost 98% of the money.

In an effort to placate outraged Libyan officials, Goldman executives attempted to sell preferred shares of the firm to Libya.

And this is where the feeling of relief comes in. "The last thing we need right now would be headlines reading ‘Vampire Squid Profits Funding Libyan Dictator,’” one senior Goldman investment banker told NetNet. (We agreed not to identify him, because bankers are not really supposed to talk to reporters, except under very limited and controlled circumstances.)

The United States has been bombing Libya for months—and Gadaffi is back on the list of official villains.

But back when Goldman offered Libya a preferred equity stake in the firm, Libya had spent years on the list of foreign governments with which it was acceptable for US companies to do business. After years as a pariah nation, Libya was being brought back into the fold of the respectable international community.

Goldman has been stung again and again with bad publicity, much of it stemming from how the firm maneuvered itself through the mortgage meltdown and financial crisis. Goldman has been accused by the SEC of defrauding customers—a lawsuit it settled for $500 million. It is reportedly expecting federal subpoenas in connection with its mortgage-related business.

“Finally, we dodged a bullet,” another person at Goldman said in reaction to the Libya news. (CNBC)

Home Prices in 20 US Cities Fall to 8 Year Low ~  Home prices dropped in March to the lowest level since 2003, showing housing remains mired in a slump almost 2 years into the economic recovery.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities fell 3.6% from March 2010, the biggest year-over-year decline since November 2009, the group said today in New York. At 138.16, the gauge was the weakest since March 2003.

A backlog of foreclosures poised to reach the market means prices may stay depressed, dissuading builders from taking on new-home construction projects. Unemployment at 9% and stricter lending conditions are signs that any recovery in housing may take years.

“With the foreclosure pipeline still full to bursting, it’s hard to see this downward pressure on prices abating,” said Paul Dales, a senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in Toronto. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see prices continue to fall this year and maybe into next year.”

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a 3.4% decline from a year earlier, according to the median forecast of 27 economists surveyed. Estimates ranged from declines of 4.9% to 2.8%. (Bloomberg)

Madoff Victim Seeks Divorce Do-Over ~ After 33 years of marriage, Steven Simkin and Laura Blank divorced in 2006. They agreed to split their considerable wealth equally. She got the apartment on the Upper East Side; he got the house in Scarsdale, N.Y.

More than 2 years later, Ms. Blank received a voicemail message that stunned her: Mr. Simkin wanted to revise their settlement. She refused, and he sued.

While divorce agreements are generally ironclad and rarely rescinded, this challenge has now reached New York’s highest court. Deeply divided appellate justices requested what is considered an unusual review of settled law involving contracts.

What made Mr. Simkin’s call for a do-over even remotely possible has its roots in Bernard L. Madoff’s ponzi scheme.

When the couple split their assets evenly, the largest chunk of money was invested with Madoff. Mr. Simkin kept much of his funds in the Madoff account, which was held in his name. Ms. Blank, who said she had no interest in investing with Madoff, received her settlement proceeds in cash.

Shortly after Madoff admitted wrongdoing in December 2008, Mr. Simkin, a lawyer at one of the country’s most powerful law firms, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, filed court papers to drastically alter the terms of his divorce settlement. Ms. Blank, he argued in the lawsuit, should be required to turn over millions of dollars that she had received in their settlement to make up for the substantial losses he had sustained in the fraud. (NYTimes)