Goldman Sachs' earnings may raise some interesting questions

Two big questions loom over Goldman Sachs' first-quarter earnings announcement tomorrow morning. The first is obvious: How well did the company do? Rumors are already circulating that Goldman Sachs (GS) will post its second-most-profitable quarter ever, so the market will probably be looking for good news. That leads to the second question: What is it going to do next?

Goldman Sachs could take advantage of better-than-expected results to formally announce a big stock offering. The news broke last week that Goldman would sell shares to help rid itself of the $10 billion investment it received from the Treasury Department last fall. What better time to unveil such a move than when expectations-beating earnings already have investors cheering?