The Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX: MYR) share price is having a remarkable day today. At the time of writing, Myer shares are up a healthy 5.9% to 36 cents a share.
That looks pretty good against the broader S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which is up 0.55% today. It was only back on 9 March that Myer was trading at 28 cents a share, meaning that since then, the Myer share price is up more than 26%.
And even though Myer is still not yet touching its 52-week high of 42 cents a share, it has still enjoyed an incredible run over the past 12 months. This time last year, Myer was scraping 8.3 cents a share, so the company has recovered a pleasing 333% of those lows in the 12 months since. The shares are also up 19% in 2021 so far.
So what's been happening at Myer recently? And why are Myer shares popping today?
My store, My shares
Myer is one of the most famous retail names on the ASX. It's a department store chain which has been around since 1900. Unfortunately for Myer (along with almost all other department stores), the past decade or so has not been kind.
Online shopping and e-commerce has hit the department store model hard and resulted in an exodus of value.
Just to illustrate, Myer shares have, on today's prices, lost more than 90% of their value since November 2009. That was when the company had a share price of more than $3.50 – almost inconceivable looking at today's pricing.
And remember, that was also coming out of the global financial crisis. It's an ugly painting of value destruction to be sure.
Why are Myer shares popping today?
Turning to the recent strength in the Myer share price, there's no immediately obvious reason why this company is rising so strongly today.
There have been no major market-moving announcements from the company since 4 March. That was when Myer delivered its half-year results for the six months ending 23 January.
The company reported that total sales fell 13.1% for the period, coming in at $1.4 billion. However, Myer also delivered a 71% rise in online sales to $287.6 million.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also fell by 1.7% to $214.6 million, but net profits after tax rose to $42.9 million, up 8.4%. Dividend payments remain suspended for shareholders.
So a mixed bag of earnings, one might say.
Still, investors have evidently been pleased by these results, seeing as Myer shares are up a healthy 27.5% since the release.
Myer has in many ways outperformed expectations over this time. Remember, these results reflect a period of ongoing coronavirus lockdowns, especially in Victoria. Myer also stated that "regional and suburban stores were relatively strong with a total of 11 Myer stores delivering increased sales during 1H21 compared to 1H20", which is obviously good news.
It's also possible that Myer is benefitting from rising positive sentiment regarding the coronavirus vaccine rollout, as well as the travel stimulus package the government announced earlier in the month.
Whatever the reason, Myer shareholders have reason to be happy today after suffering for so long. On the current Myer share price, the company has a market capitalisation of $291.5 million.
