NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - There was only one earnings report in the world of tech that mattered last week: Cisco Systems.

But this week is a different story, with a flurry of tech earnings scheduled. Seven techs from the S&P 500 are on tap, including leading chip equipment firm Applied Materials, tax and financial services software developer Intuit, and, most notably, Dell Computer.

Cisco's flattish sales guidance for its next fiscal quarter put a minor dent in the sector's rally. But techs bounced back Friday following a strong earnings report from graphic chips maker nVidia and positive comments about Chinese demand by Intel President Paul Otellini.

Will the optimism continue into this week?

Without a doubt, Dell's report will be the most widely watched. The company is one of only a few major tech companies that have consistently reported solid revenue and earnings gains during the sector's slump.

The company will announce its fiscal first-quarter results Thursday and analysts are expecting Dell to report earnings of 23 cents a share, up from 17 cents a year ago. Revenues are expected to increase 18 percent, from $8.1 billion last year, to $9.5 billion.

The Magnificent Seven? Tech earnings have been good so far. Seven more companies are on tap. Company  EPS Est.  Rev. Est.  Analog Devices  $0.18  $486 million  Applied Materials  $0.02  $1.1 billion  Computer Associates   $0.06  $797 million  Computer Sciences   $0.94  $3.1 billion  Dell Computer  $0.23  $9.5 billion  Intuit  $1.02  $633 million  Network Appliance  $0.07  $238 million   Source:  First Call

And investors have rewarded Dell for its strong fundamentals -- the stock hit a new intraday 52-week high of $31.36 this week, a price it last touched in November 2000.

However, Dell (DELL: up $0.89 to $31.09, Research, Estimates) has maintained during its past few quarterly conference calls that its sales growth is being fueled by market share gains, not an uptick in IT spending. If the company indicates that demand is starting to improve as well, then that could provide a huge boost to the tech sector.

Investors will also be looking for more information about Dell's diversification efforts. The company has recently started to sell printers and is bolstering its product offerings in storage and networking. To that end, Dell is seeking shareholder approval for a name change from Dell Computer to Dell, Inc.

Applied Materials (AMAT: up $0.49 to $15.08, Research, Estimates), the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductor equipment, reports its fiscal second-quarter results Tuesday. The quarter is not expected to be a great one, with analysts predicting earnings of 2 cents a share, down from 3 cents a year ago, and sales $1.1 billion, a 5 percent drop from last year.

Applied Materials competitors KLA-Tencor and Novellus Systems both issued lukewarm guidance for their current quarter (which ends in June) so it will be interesting to see what guidance AMAT gives for its fiscal third quarter. Analysts currently expect earnings of 4 cents a share, compared with 7 cents a share a year ago and revenue of $1.2 billion, compared with $1.5 billion last year.

But growing optimism exists for a rebound in the chip and chip equipment sector during the second half of the year. Investors will also be curious to hear from AMAT's new CEO, Michael Splinter, a long-time Intel vet who joined AMAT last month.

In other chip earnings news, Analog Devices is set to report fiscal second-quarter results on Wednesday. Analysts are expecting a 38 percent increase in earnings and 17.5 percent jump in sales. The analog chip area has been one of the better performing parts of the chip sector. (For more, click on Beyond Intel.)

The final four S&P techs represent a broad array of the tech sector: Intuit, storage hardware company Network Appliance, business software developer Computer Associates and consulting firm Computer Sciences.

For Intuit (INTU: down $0.10 to $39.93, Research, Estimates), which makes the Quicken and TurboTax software programs, tax season means big bucks. The company reports fiscal third quarter results on Wednesday and analysts are expecting a 36 percent earnings increase on a 16 percent rise in revenue.

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Computer Associates (CA: up $0.17 to $17.05, Research, Estimates), which has been plagued by sluggish demand and accounting concerns for the past few years, is expected to post first quarter results of 6 cents a share on Wednesday, up from a break even quarter a year ago. But competitor BMC Software issued a warning for the year when it reported its first-quarter results.

Network Appliance (NTAP: up $0.43 to $15.71, Research, Estimates) has been benefiting from an upturn in the storage market as of late. Analysts expect it to report an earnings increase of 75 percent and 16 percent increase in sales for its fiscal fourth quarter Tuesday.

Finally, Computer Sciences (CSC: up $1.51 to $33.53, Research, Estimates), which competes with IBM and EDS in the lucrative IT outsourcing market, is expected to post relatively flat fourth-quarter results Tuesday: an earnings gain of just 1 percent on sales growth of less than 1 percent.