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

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

Disclosure Text Block Supplement [Abstract]

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, 2013, approximately $1.7 million of cash and cash equivalents were fully insured by the FDIC under its standard maximum deposit insurance amount guidelines. At December 31, 2013, cash and cash equivalents included $374,000 belonging to majority-owned joint ventures that are consolidated in these financial statements which generally cannot be used for purposes outside such joint ventures.

Short-term investments included mutual funds and government bonds which are considered available-for-sale securities. At December 31, 2013, the Company had no short-term investments. As of December 31, 2012, 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

The amortized cost basis of the above securities at December 31, 2012 was $48.1 million. 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 as of December 31, 2012.

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 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, 2013 and 2012, total proceeds from sales of short-term investments were $49.9 million and $26.7 million, respectively, with gross realized gains of $706,000 and $785,000, respectively, and gross realized losses of $609,000 and $0, respectively. Accumulated other comprehensive income at December 31, 2013 and 2012 included unrealized gains on short-term investments of $0 and $1.1 million, respectively. 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.

At each reporting date, the Company performs separate evaluations of impaired debt and equity securities to determine if the unrealized losses are other-than-temporary. The evaluations include a number of factors, including but not limited to, the length of time and extent to which the fair value has been less than cost, the financial condition and near-term prospects of the issuer, and management’s ability and intent to hold the securities until fair value recovers. The assessment of the ability and intent to hold these securities to recovery focuses primarily on liquidity needs and securities portfolio objectives. At December 31, 2013, the Company had no short-term investments; thus no evaluation was required. At December 31, 2012, the Company concluded that the unrealized losses related to these securities were temporary.

The Company earned interest income of $558,000, $1.5 million and $1.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively, on its cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. These amounts are recorded in “interest income” in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations.