What happened

Shares of Matterport (MTTR -0.63%) are soaring today, up by more than 30% as of 11 a.m. ET. The move higher erased just a small portion of year-to-date losses for the metaverse tech specialist. Yet it was powered by surprisingly strong second-quarter results that might pave the way for a sustained rally ahead.

Let's take a closer look.

So what

Matterport revealed in a filing on Wednesday that revenue edged lower to $28 million in the period that ended in late June. That result met Wall Street's expectations, which were based on management's official forecast.

But there were encouraging signs of firming demand even as the real estate market cools. Matterport found plenty of new subscribers to its services that help users create digital twins of real-life spaces.

Recurring revenue rose 20% in the period and the subscriber base increased 52%. "We delivered another strong quarter," CEO RJ Pittman said in a press release.

Now what

Investors were even happier to hear management's updated outlook for the rest of 2022. Fiscal Q3 sales should land between $35 million and $37 million, exceeding the $33 million that most Wall Street pros were targeting. Matterport also sees revenue rising to as high as $138 million for the full year, easily surpassing analysts' prediction of $127 million.

Of course, growth could slow back down in the weeks to come. Matterport is also still predicting a net loss for the year, too. However, the Q2 update suggests that sales will climb this year as losses moderate.

Given that the metaverse stock had plummeted since early January, it is no surprise that this brightening outlook delivered a share-price rebound.