Sales the story at Forzani Group: year-over-year results show that Canada's biggest sporting goods retailer is strong on execution

Forzani Group Ltd. (TSX: FGL; Recent price; $18.90) is Canada's leading sporting goods retailer. The company operates under many banners: Sport Chek, Forzani's, Sports Experts, Coast Mountain Sports and Sport Mart as well as on-line stores www.sporrchek.ca and www.sportmart.ca.

The company recently announced that its net income rose to $3.64 million, or $0.11 a share in the quarter ended July 28, up from $2.54 million, or $0.09 a share, a year earlier. Forzani's total sales, which include corporate and franchise stores, were $244.3 million, up from $195.2 million in the same quarter of the previous year. During the quarter, Forzani opened six corporate stores and closed one smaller corporate store. In the franchise division, it opened two stores, expanded and renovated two stores and closed two locations -- an increase of 3.6% in retail space over the previous quarter.

Forzani's results show that same-store sales climbed 6.5% for the corporate stores and rose 4.9% for the franchise locations. For the five-week period ended September 1, 2002, total sales climbed 16.7% from a year ago. According to the company, it recently outperformed the TSX's merchandising and specialty indices.

If the recent sales growth is any indication of the sales to come for the rest of the year, we could be looking a healthy rise in earnings.

Although the sporting goods retailers' stock cannot be considered risk free, Forzani offers an opportunity for those who can afford to assume some risk in search of capital appreciation, based on current figures.

Forzani Group

TSX Symbol                 FGL

Recent Price            $18.90
Earnings Per Share       $0.83
P/E Ratio                 23.0
Shares Outstanding       30.5M
Divident/Share             N/A
Current Divident Yield     N/A