The technology sector’s fourth-quarter performance, so far, was dominated by gains from robust demand for tech-ridden digitization solutions, courtesy of the rising work-from-home and learn-from-home trends amid the pandemic.

Solid uptick in cloud-computing solutions and Internet services, increasing demand for high-compute capabilities’ processors, and growing proliferation of advanced technologies have been benefiting the tech companies.

Moreover, ongoing momentum in video conferencing as a result of the current work-from-home trend, strengthening user penetration for online payment services, improving trend in PC shipments, increasing proliferation of IoT and growing clout of cloud-based applications have been driving the sector of late.

For instance, solid holiday season sales helped Internet-based platform provider companies like Shopify (SHOP Quick QuoteSHOP - Free Report) to deliver stellar fourth-quarter results.

Further, a strong PC market highlights the need for advanced processors in sleek enterprise laptops, which favored the performance of semiconductor companies, including Intel in the fourth quarter.

Also, a rebound in the automotive space and accelerated deployment of 5G worldwide have been acting as tailwinds.

Nevertheless, a slowdown in IT spending, and weakness across small and medium-sized businesses, due to disruptions caused by COVID-19, may have weighed on the tech companies’ quarterly performance.

Upcoming Tech Stocks Earnings Releases

Given this interesting mix of factors, investors are now keenly awaiting fourth-quarter 2020 earnings releases from ANSYS (ANSS Quick QuoteANSS - Free Report) and 3D Systems (DDD Quick QuoteDDD - Free Report) .

Interestingly, investors are also keeping a check on notable companies including NVIDIA (NVDA Quick QuoteNVDA - Free Report) , NetApp (NTAP Quick QuoteNTAP - Free Report) , Nutanix (NTNX Quick QuoteNTNX - Free Report) and Pure Storage (PSTG Quick QuotePSTG - Free Report) , which usually report after the busy period of the earnings season. All these stocks are scheduled to report on Feb 24.

Let’s take a look into how things have been shaping up for these prominent technology companies ahead of their earnings releases.

Our quantitative model predicts an earnings beat for the company with a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) as this combination increases the chances of an earnings beat.

ANSYS’ fourth-quarter 2020 performance might have benefited from continued uptick in chip design activity and healthy adoption of its solutions in defence, high-tech and automotive end markets.

Our proven model predicts an earnings beat for ANSYS this time around. The company currently has a Zacks Rank #3 and an Earnings ESP of +1.66%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is stable at $2.51 over the past 30 days, indicating growth of 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. (Read More: ANSYS to Report Q4 Earnings: What's in the Offing?)

3D Systems' fourth-quarter 2020 results are likely to reflect benefits from increased demand for its products.

However, the exit of Cimatron might have kept margins under pressure.

Although 3D Systems presently carries a Zacks Rank #2, an Earnings ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Notably, the consensus mark for earnings has remained steady over the past 30 days at 11 cents per share, suggesting an improvement of 120% from the year-ago quarter. (Read More: 3D Systems to Report Q4 Earnings: What's in the Offing?)

NetApp's third-quarter fiscal 2021 performance is likely to have gained from strength in Public Cloud Services and synergies from buyouts of Spot, Cloud Jumper and Talon.

However, broad-based macroeconomic weakness led by coronavirus crisis has been compelling enterprises to trim capital expenditure, which is may have weighed on NetApp’s storage business’ performance in the to-be-reported quarter.

NetApp has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3, at present. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings has been steady over the past 30 days at $1.01 per share. (Read More: Here's How NetApp Looks Just Ahead of Q3 Earnings)

Pure Storage's (PSTG Quick QuotePSTG - Free Report) fourth-quarter fiscal 2021 results are likely to reflect impacts from lower IT spend.

However, robust adoption of Cloud Block Store, ObjectEngine Cloud, and CloudSnap offerings is likely to have driven quarterly performance.

Pure Storage currently has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the fiscal fourth-quarter earnings has remain unchanged over the past 30 days at 9 cents. (Read More: Pure Storage to Post Q4 Earnings: What's in Store?)

Nutanix’s second-quarter fiscal 2021 top line is likely to reflect increased demand for its hyperconverged solutions and automation services. Also, the ongoing shift to cloud solutions due to the coronavirus-induced remote working environment is expected to have acted as a catalyst.

However, lower hardware revenues are expected to have weighed on the top line. Moreover, the ongoing transition to a subscription-based business model is likely to have acted as an overhang.

Nutanix has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3, at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal second-quarter bottom line is pegged at a loss of 47 cents per share, unchanged in the past 30 days. The consensus mark for revenues stands at $329.1 million, which suggests decline of 5.1% from the prior-year quarter.

NVIDIA’s fourth-quarter fiscal 2021 performance is likely to have gained from stellar demand for cloud computing and data centers.

The company is anticipated to have benefited from strength in its data-center business on the growing adoption of cloud-based solutions amid the coronavirus pandemic-led remote-working and online-learning trend. (Read More: Solid Data-Center Demand to Boost NVIDIA's Q4 Earnings)

Nonetheless, disruptions in retail channel sales due to lockdown and social-distancing measures implemented by governments worldwide to contain the spread of coronavirus might have partially offset the benefit of solid demand for the remote-working and online-learning hardware infrastructure.

NVIDIA currently has a Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) and an Earnings ESP of 0.00%.

Notably, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly earnings is pegged at $2.80, unchanged in the past 30 days, suggesting year-over-year improvement of 48.2%.

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