Note 4 - Cash and Cash Equivalents and Short-term Investments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Cash, Cash Equivalents, and Short-term Investments [Text Block]

4.	Cash and Cash Equivalents and Short-term Investments

The Company considers all highly liquid investments with original or remaining maturities of three months or less at the time of purchase to be cash equivalents. At December 31, 2012, approximately $2.7 million of cash and cash equivalents were fully insured by the FDIC under its standard maximum deposit insurance amount guidelines. At December 31, 2012, cash and cash equivalents included $980,000 belonging to majority-owned joint ventures that are consolidated in these financial statements which generally cannot be used for purposes outside such joint ventures.

The Company includes certificates of deposit with a remaining maturity of 90 days or less at purchase in “Cash and cash equivalents.” All other short-term investments are included in “Short-term investments.” Mutual funds, government bonds and exchange traded funds are considered available-for-sale securities. Government bonds have maturity dates of 2013-2050. At December 31, 2012 and 2011, the Company had short-term investments as follows (in thousands):

	As of December 31, 2012
	Total Fair Value		Level 1		Level 2		Gross Unrealized Gains (pre-tax)		Gross Unrealized Losses (pre-tax)
Mutual funds	$	27,582	$	27,582	$	--	$	337	$	9
Municipal bonds		21,629		--		21,629		862		128
Total securities available-for-sale	$	49,211	$	27,582	$	21,629	$	1,199	$	137

	As of December 31, 2011
	Total Fair Value		Level 1		Level 2		Gross Unrealized Gains (pre-tax)		Gross Unrealized Losses (pre-tax)
Mutual funds	$	24,851	$	24,851	$	--	$	383	$	--
Municipal bonds		20,004		--		20,004		617		15
Total securities available-for-sale	$	44,855	$	24,851	$	20,004	$	1,000	$	15

The amortized cost basis of the above securities at December 31, 2012 and 2011 was $48.1 million and $44.3 million, respectively. Municipal bond securities are the only securities held by the Company where fair value does not equal amortized cost. The amortized cost for municipal bond securities was $20.5 million and $19.4 million in 2012 and 2011, respectively.

The valuation inputs for Levels 1, 2 and 3 are as follows:

Level 1 Inputs - Based upon quoted prices for identical assets in active markets that the Company has the ability to access at the measurement date.

Level 2 Inputs – Based upon quoted prices (other than Level 1) in active markets for similar assets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets in markets that are not active, inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset such as interest rates, yield curves, volatilities and default rates and inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data.

Level 3 Inputs – Based on unobservable inputs reflecting the Company’s own assumptions about the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset based on the best information available.

The Company had no short-term investments valued with Level 3 inputs at either of the balance sheet dates.

Gains and losses realized on short-term investment securities are included in “Gains (losses) on sale of securities and other” in the accompanying statements of operations. Unrealized gains (losses) on short-term investments are included in accumulated other comprehensive income in stockholders’ equity, net of tax, as the gains and losses may be temporary. For the year ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, total proceeds from sales of short-term investments were $26.7 million and $101.4 million, respectively, with gross realized gains of $785,000 and $390,000, respectively, and gross realized losses of $0 and $388,000, respectively. Accumulated other comprehensive income at December 31, 2012 included unrealized gains (losses) on short-term investments of $1.1 million less the associated taxes of $372,000. Upon the sale of short-term investments, the cost basis used to determine the gain or loss is based on the specific identification of the security sold. All items included in accumulated other comprehensive income are at the corporate level, and no portion is attributable to noncontrolling interests.

For the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, the Company recorded interest income of $1.3 million, $1.7 million and $1.8 million, respectively.