Alexion Jumps as Lower-Than-Projected Tax Rate Boosts Profit

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., maker of the rare-disease drug Soliris, soared to a record value after fourth-quarter earnings and its 2014 forecast exceeded analysts’ estimates, helped by a lower-than-projected tax rate.

Alexion gained 21 percent to $162 at the close in New York, its highest closing price since the company first sold stock to the public in 1996. The single-day share increase was the biggest for the Cheshire, Connecticut-based company in more than 11 years and the stock is up 70 percent in the past year.