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SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2025
Equity [Abstract]  
SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Stock-Based Compensation
2016 Amended and Restated Incentive Award Plan
On February 6, 2025 and May 16, 2025, respectively, the Board adopted and the Company's stockholders approved the 2016 Amended and Restated Incentive Award Plan (the "Amended 2016 Plan"). The Amended 2016 Plan provides for long-term equity incentive compensation for key employees, officers and non-employee directors. A variety of discretionary awards (collectively, the “Awards”) for employees and non-employee directors are authorized under the Amended 2016 Plan, including vested shares, stock options, stock appreciation rights (SARs), restricted stock awards (RSAs), restricted stock units (RSUs), or other cash based or stock dividend equivalent awards, which are all equity-classified instruments under the Amended 2016 Plan. The number of shares registered and available for grant under the Amended 2016 Plan is 6,000,000. The vesting of such awards may be conditioned upon either a specified period of time or the attainment of specific performance goals as determined by the administrator of the Amended 2016 Plan. The option price and term are also subject to determination by the administrator with respect to each grant. Option prices are generally expected to be set at the market price of the Company’s common stock at the date of grant and option terms are not expected to exceed ten years.
The Company granted 161,495 awards to employees under the Amended 2016 Plan during the year ended December 31, 2025, consisting of 41,075 RSU and 35,960 stock option awards having five year vesting schedules, and 84,460 stock option awards that vested upon issuance. The Company granted an additional 386 RSU that vest in four approximately equal installments on March 31, 2026, June 30, 2026, September 30, 2026 and December 31, 2026, and 7,344 stock option awards to non-employee directors under the Amended 2016 Plan, during the year ended December 31, 2025. These stock option awards will vest on the earlier of (a) the day immediately preceding the date of the first annual meeting following the date of grant and (b) the first anniversary of the date of grant, subject to the non-employee director continuing in service through the applicable vesting date.
The Company granted 206,893 awards to employees under the Amended 2016 Plan during the year ended December 31, 2024, consisting of 131,156 RSU and 24,650 stock option awards having five year vesting schedules, 1,087 RSU having four year vesting schedules and 50,000 stock option awards that vested upon issuance. The Company granted an additional 674 RSU that vest in four approximately equal installments on March 31, 2025, June 30, 2025, September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2025, and 6,542 stock option awards to non-employee directors under the Amended 2016 Plan, during the year ended December 31, 2024. These stock option awards will vest on the earlier of (a) the day immediately preceding the date of the first annual meeting following the date of grant and (b) the first anniversary of the date of grant, subject to the non-employee director continuing in service through the applicable vesting date.
The Company granted 47,238 awards to employees under the Amended 2016 Plan during the year ended December 31, 2023, consisting of 45,988 RSU and 1,250 stock option awards having four year vesting schedules. The Company granted an additional 848 RSU that vest in four approximately equal installments on March 31, 2024, June 30, 2024, September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2024, and 11,187 stock option awards to non-employee directors under the Amended 2016 Plan, during the year ended December 31, 2023. These stock option awards will vest on the earlier of (a) the day immediately preceding the date of the first annual meeting following the date of grant and (b) the first anniversary of the date of grant, subject to the non-employee director continuing in service through the applicable vesting date.
The Amended 2016 Plan expires in 2035, except for awards then outstanding, and is administered by the Board. All awards granted at the IPO or thereafter were or will be issued under the Amended 2016 Plan.
The Company satisfies stock option exercises and vested stock awards with treasury shares or newly issued shares. Shares available for future stock compensation grants under the Amended 2016 Plan totaled 1.9 million and 2.1 million at December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
Equity Awards
Valuation Assumptions
The Company determines the fair value of stock options using the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model (the “BSM Model”). The BSM Model is primarily affected by the fair value of the Company’s common stock (see restricted share valuation discussion below), the expected holding period for the option, expected stock price volatility over the term of the awards, the risk-free interest rate, and expected dividends.
The following table sets forth the key weighted-average assumptions used in the BSM Model to calculate the fair value of options:
Year Ended December 31,
202520242023
Expected holding period - years4.94.34.1
Expected volatility43.5%43.4%45.4%
Risk-free interest rate4.1%3.7%3.8%
Expected dividend yield0.0%0.0%0.0%
The assumptions used in the table above reflect grant date inputs to arrive at the grant date fair values for stock options subject to equity-classified stock compensation accounting.
The expected holding period represents the period of time the grants are expected to be outstanding. The Company uses the simplified method, as prescribed by accounting guidance governing such awards, to calculate the expected holding period for options granted to employees as we do not have sufficient historical evidence data to provide a reasonable basis upon which to estimate the expected holding period. For options valued by the Company for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively, the expected holding period is based on an average between the midpoint of the vesting date and the expiration date of the options.
Due to the lack of Company specific historical and implied volatility data, our estimate of expected volatility is based upon a blended approach that utilizes the historical volatility of the Company's common stock for periods in which the Company has sufficient information and the historical volatility of a group of peer companies that are most representative of our company.
The risk-free interest rate is based on the yield on U.S. Treasury obligations with remaining durations equal to the expected holding period of the options. The expected dividend yield is assumed to be zero based on recent and anticipated dividend activity.
The fair value of restricted shares is based upon the market price of the Company’s common stock on the date of grant as listed on the NASDAQ.
The following table summarizes the grant date fair values of stock options and restricted shares issued during the period as well as the allocation of stock-based compensation expense to Total direct costs, and Selling, general and administrative reported in the consolidated statements of operations:
Year Ended December 31,
202520242023
Weighted average, grant date fair value
Stock options$140.34 $148.85 $85.30 
Restricted shares (RSAs and RSUs)$353.93 $372.17 $225.69 
Stock-based compensation expense allocated to:
Total direct costs$13,612 $11,117 $11,099 
Selling, general, and administrative21,174 14,397 9,417 
Total stock-based compensation expense$34,786 $25,514 $20,516 
Award Activity
The following table sets forth the Company’s stock option activity:
Year Ended December 31,
202520242023
Options Weighted Average Exercise PriceOptions Weighted Average Exercise PriceOptions Weighted Average Exercise Price
Outstanding - beginning of Period1,143,368$130.33 1,343,287$100.75 1,629,148$89.71 
Granted127,764$325.60 81,192$378.45 12,437$211.25 
Exercised(639,729)$89.10 (274,733)$57.73 (287,048)$39.64 
Cancelled/Forfeited/Expired(12,722)$227.08 (6,378)$186.83 (11,250)$183.04 
Outstanding - end of period618,681$211.29 1,143,368$130.33 1,343,287$100.75 
Exercisable - end of period450,986$209.15 814,980$110.86 901,865$74.79 
The following table sets forth the Company’s Restricted Share activity:
Year Ended December 31,
202520242023
Shares/Units Shares/Units Shares/Units
Outstanding and unvested - beginning of period365,492390,998523,377
Granted41,461132,91746,836
Vested(62,176)(130,934)(154,618)
Forfeited(20,260)(27,489)(24,597)
Outstanding and unvested - end of period324,517365,492390,998
The following table summarizes information about stock options expected to vest, stock options exercisable, and unvested restricted share awards expected to vest at December 31, 2025:
Weighted Average
Exercise
Price
Stock
Options
Restricted
Shares/Units
Weighted Average
 Remaining
Life (Years)
Number of stock options expected to vest$211.29 618,6813.8
Number of restricted shares/units expected to vest324,517
Total expected to vest618,681324,517
Total stock options exercisable$209.15 450,9864.0
Unrecognized compensation cost (in thousands)$7,557 $49,409 
Weighted average years over which unrecognized compensation cost will be recognized3.83.6
The following table sets forth the aggregate intrinsic value of stock options exercised, the fair values of awards vested, and share based liabilities settled during the respective periods (in thousands):
Year Ended December 31,
202520242023
Total intrinsic value of stock options exercised$202,429 $89,298 $56,548 
Total grant-date fair value of stock options vested$22,179 $13,992 $3,591 
Total grant-date fair value of restricted shares vested$10,827 $12,903 $9,306 
Total settlement date fair value of restricted shares vested$35,537 $49,503 $31,842 
The actual tax benefits recognized related to stock-based compensation totaled $50.1 million, $27.8 million and $18.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively.