The markets had a relatively flat day to start the week, but there were some big name stocks that traded up to new 52 week highs in today's session. The DOW was up 0.2%, NASDAQ was down 0.01%, while the S&P saw the most change, closing up 0.4%.

Here are a couple of the bigger names that traded up to new 52 week highs in today's trading.

• Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC): Chipmaker Intel Corp. traded up to a new 52 week high today of $20.65. It set its 52 week low of $12.05 back on 2/23/09. The stock is trading higher today ahead of the company's third quarter earnings numbers, which are due out tomorrow following the market close. Analysts are expecting the company to show earnings of 27 cents per share. The company reported a loss of 7 cents per share for its second quarter. The stock closed the day up 1.1% at $20.40, up $0.23 on the day.

Good thing that Zoloft is no longer covered by patent protection. Now it will be a lot cheaper for Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) investors to stock up on the anti-depressant so they can better cope with the drug maker's lousy earnings.

Net income in the second quarter plunged 48% to $1.27 billion, or $0.18 per share, on revenue of $10.11 billion. Excluding unpleasant stuff like restructuring charges, profit was $0.42. On that basis, Wall Street analysts expected profit of $0.50 on revenue of $11.4 billion, according to Thomson Financial.

Investors could take some solace knowing that the company doesn't think things will get much worse. It reaffirmed EPS and revenue guidance for 2007 and 2008. Good thing, too, since the company just cut its 2007 outlook in April.

Still, there wasn't much to cheer about in today's results. Sales of Lipitor, the company's most prescribed product, plunged 13% in the quarter, failing to meet Pfizer's own expectations. Zoloft sales plunged 82% while NORVASC fell 45% and Viagra fell 3%.

Investors expected sales of these drugs to plunge since they lost patent protection. Chief Executive Jeffrey Kindler has cut jobs and closed factories to cut costs. But what the company needs more than anything are new best selling drugs.

Like the minor league system in baseball, drug companies count on their pipelines to replace aging players. Whether investors will give Pfizer enough time to develop its prospects is far from certain.

Drug manufacturer Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) has got serious problems that go beyond its lackluster first quarter earnings.

During the first quarter.profit fell 39%, despite the fact that revenues rose 14%.. In spite of the fall-off in profits, management has raised full-year sales projections, and expects earnings of $2.63-$2.73 for the year. But that's only part of the story.

Eli Lilly recently yanked its European application to sell Arxxant, a drug to reduce diabetes-related eye diseases. Scaling back additional European operations incurred charges of $0.08 per share. Lilly still faces more than 1,000 lawsuits related to use of its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa. The legal bill for this drug has already surpassed the $1 billion mark. The end is not yet in sight as Lilly continues to sell the drug in selected markets.

Additional worrisome news is that Lilly does not have a robust drug pipeline. There aren't many drugs in advanced stages of the approval process. Its next big drug to market might be prasugrel, useful in treating heart disease. This drug is only in preliminary trials.

Lilly figures if it cannot produce its own drugs, it can acquire them from others. Lilly bought Icos Corporation in 1Q 2007 for $2.3 billion, $0.29 per share in charges. It is too soon to tell whether this acquisition was a bargain or an additional liability.

In what may be a snapshot of modern American society, two of Eli Lilly's top selling drugs are Cymbalta, used to treat anxiety disorder, and Cialis, used to treat erectile dysfunction. Sales of the anti-depressant Cymbalta rose 89% to $441.8 million. Sales of Cialis were up 19% to $265.8 million for the quarter.