Morningstar analysts say the company would be fairly valued at 70 cents, more than 40 per cent higher than 49 cents shares vaulted to on Tuesday.

Its equities team said in a note earlier in the year that while the company could be well-positioned to take advantage of a return to bricks-and-mortar retail, Myer’s online growth is key to growth.

“While we expect the online channel to grow faster than the brick-and-mortar channel to fiscal 2030, and Myer to partially capture its share of this e-commerce growth, Amazon Australia will pursue its piece of the pie.”

Myer is the second retailer to reveal strong earnings before the coming company reporting season – last week JB Hi-Fi surprised the market with stronger than expected sales and profit figures.

The electronics retailer booked record sales and profits for the 2022 financial year as online sales surged at the same time as bricks-and-mortar stores reopened.

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The results come despite analysts’ predictions that non-discretionary retailers should already be seeing a spending slowdown, thanks to a cocktail of rising interest rates and inflation.

The owner of Australia’s other major department store chain David Jones, Woolworths South Africa, also released a trading update on Tuesday revealing sales had bounced back at David Jones in the second half of 2022.

Overall turnover was down 2.6 per cent for the full year, while sales at Country Road Group were up by 9 per cent for the year.

Retail trade data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics this month showed department stores had the biggest jump in sales across all categories in May, up 5.1 per cent compared with April.

Australians spent $1.8 billion in department stores in May, compared with a low of $1.2 billion in April 2020, when coronavirus restrictions first took effect in Australia.

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