What happened

Shares of Wayfair (W -1.54%) popped 10% on Thursday after the home furnishings-focused online marketplace delivered strong second-quarter financial results. 

So what

Wayfair's net revenue fell 10.4% year over year to $3.9 billion, but rose 11% sequentially. The company continues to benefit from a rise in e-commerce sales during the coronavirus crisis, despite the economy reopening and more people returning to brick-and-mortar stores.

"Wayfair delivered $3.9 billion in net revenue in Q2 -- well above pre-pandemic run-rates, even as we began to lap the early heights of COVID-related lockdowns in 2020," CEO Niraj Shah said in a press release. "While the current macro environment is dynamic, the home remains a high priority for our customers and longer-term tailwinds to online category growth are firmly in place."

A person is pointing to an upwardly sloping line.

Investors bid up Wayfair's stock price on Thursday. Image source: Getty Images.

All told, Wayfair's adjusted earnings per share checked in at $1.89, besting Wall Street's estimates for earnings per share of $1.15. Better still, Wayfair's cash production remained robust. It generated operating and free cash flow of $275.4 million and $206.9 million, respectively.

Now what

Wayfair's sales soared during the early stages of the health crisis, as people were forced to remain at home due to social-distancing measures. Yet even as people emerge from lockdowns, many of them are continuing to shop online. In fact, Wayfair's active users rose 20% year over year to 31.1 million in the second quarter.

"While there may be some short-term rebalancing toward brick-and-mortar over the next couple of quarters, we're convinced the structural trends toward e-commerce will hold and potentially accelerate," Shah said.