The company expects to take pretax charge of $40 million in the fourth quarter ending March 31. Excluding the charge, Steris believes it will meet analysts' fourth-quarter earnings estimates. According to First Call/Thomson Financial, seven analysts expect the company to earn 16 cents a share, up from a profit of a penny a share in the year-ago period. For the first quarter of fiscal 2002, Steris expects to earn 5 cents a share, compared with 1 cent in the same period a year ago. Analysts expect the company to report a profit of 12 cents a share. For all of fiscal 2002, Steris expects revenue to grow in the "mid-single digits," and the company projected earnings growth of 35% to 40% year over year.