NEW YORK (Fortune) - Happy Friday, folks ...

CHIPOTLE: Sure we had a tech stock bubble, but a Mexican restaurant bubble? Could be. Okay, so the Mexican eatery spun off from McDonalds basically doubled yesterday in its first day of trading and you're kicking yourself for not buying any of this habenero. (Folks at McDonalds must be ticked off too, they left so much money on the table by pricing it so low!) So now that the stock is at $44, is it too late to buy? Good question. Looking at the prospectus this morning offers some clues. Company said it did $43.7 million of EBITDA in the first nine months of 2005, (up from $27.9 million in all of 2004.) Now there are two classes of stock, but by my estimation, CMG (Research) has 19 million shares outstanding. Ergo you have about $2.26 per share of EBITDA, which ain't bad. But on a straight earnings basis, stock trades for 80 times, which is way higher than its peers. As for market value, company has a market cap of $836 million, while its parent company MCD has a market value of $44 billion. Of course MCD (Research) has 31,000 restaurants and Chipotle only has 500 or so. But as Telly Savalas might ask, who has more room to grow, baby? I know it's crazy expensive by some measures, but flavorful, relatively healthy Mexican fare is a dang good trend. All I'm saying is that it might not be too late to buy CMG.

SONY: Company just announced some boffo earnings and the stock is on the move. The Sir Howard Stringer effect appears to be in full regalia. Stock (Research) has gone from mid $30s to $48 over the past three months. Japanese economy is picking up and more importantly, its flat screen TVs are perking up. Sony is one of the world's greatest brands. Yes it has totally dropped the ball lately, (can you say iPod?), but if I were a betting man, even after this big move, I would slap a little moolah down. It's an expensive stock though, so be careful. (Psst: PS3 comin'!)

MITTAL STEEL: Quick. What's the biggest steel company in the world? Okay the lead-in gave it away. Mittal (MT (Research)) is the answer run, by Indian born Brit Lakshmi Mittal, who lives in the world's most expensive home in London. (A 12 bedroom $128 million pad in Kensington, if you must know!) Mittal, based in Holland, became the biggest steel company in the world after it bought Wilbur Ross's International Steel Group a while back, which owned pieces of the venerable Bethlehem and LTV steel companies. This morning Mittal made a mega, surprise $22.8 billion to buy rival Arcelor of Luxembourg. This could get interesting! MT has surged from single digits to $32 in less than five years, but it is dirt cheap, sporting a P/E of five! Tough to get a read on how clean this company is... but why not throw some cash at it. All it could do is double. Perhaps.

Loose Change: They say Jimmy Carter is a better ex-president than he was president. Could be. Anyway, just finished "Our Endangered Values, America's Moral Crisis," and it is pretty interesting. Sure it's a highly partisan take, but, even hard core GOPers might be interested to read Jimmy's take on the global rise of fundamentalism. Remember he's an evangelical Christian himself....

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Email Andy Serwer at serwer@fortunemail.com.