NEW YORK (Fortune) - For your mid-week consideration ...

GOLDMAN: Oh to be alive and working on Wall Street. Goldman's first quarter numbers were so bang up, so dang jiggy, that it's tough to imagine things getting anything better for the bluest of the blue chip investment banks. In fact, a high-level source at Goldman I spoke to yesterday admitted as much. He told me the company had never had a quarter where all of its businesses were firing on all cylinders like this. (Company made more money in this quarter than in all of '02.) Stock has gone from under $100 to $150 over the past year. Too far too fast? Well, yes, the stock has moved, but GS (Research) still carries a P/E of only 13. Many folks are scared that Goldman is nothing more than a black box hedge fund. And there is truth to that. But remember these folks get paid to a large degree in GS stock. You may hit some major speed bumps, but I say this is one stock that will fer-sure outperform the market over time. Lehman (Research) reports today and that could be nice too....

SONY: This is the company that can't shoot straight. Or game straight. It now says the Play Station 3 won't be ready until November! Huh? You must be kidding me....if you go back in time, you will see that this is now almost a year late. Talk about servin' it up to your customers, (as in Microsoft's (Research) Xbox and Nintendo's Revolution.) And I'll tell you November is skating on thin ice ... they get into after Thanksgiving territory that will hurt sales even more, bigtime. Hey Sir Howard (as in Stringer, the company CEO)! Why don't you put your foot down and tell your peeps that until this thing is done in, say September, everyone, EVERYONE works 18 hour days. Get it done dude! Having said this ... if you missed the big run up in Sony ADRs (SNE (Research)) since last fall -- the stock has climbed from the low $30s to $50 -- now may be the time. Stock has backed off to $46 and may slip more today.

H.J. HEINZ: Is now in a battle with the Chinese government over whether its baby formula has genetically modified rice. Company says no. What is more interesting though is that activist investor Nelson Peltz -- he's the guy going after Wendy's and Cracker Barrel -- may be on the warpath, which may help explain why the stock is up from $34 to $38 since early February. Heinz (Research) -- or the old pickle company as they call it in Pittsburgh -- is of course a great old name with brands like Ore Ida, ketchup, and said baby food. My problem is that this is not a cheap stock (P/E of 19) and has actually divested itself of many of its brands. Where does the growth come from? That's what Nelson Peltz wants to know.....

Loose Change: So I saw Leon Russell play last night. Sho nuff bad! Started right up with Delta Lady, dude was growlin'! He's getting up there, (ain't we all) long white hair and white suit .My pal Judy Ivey leaned over and told me that he looked like Cousin It. I said more like an older Yosemite Sam ...

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E-mail Andy Serwer at serwer@fortunemail.com