Fair Value Measurements

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

7. Fair Value Measurements

The Company’s investments include cash equivalents, available-for-sale investment securities consisting of money market funds, U.S. Treasury notes, and high quality, marketable debt instruments of corporations and government sponsored enterprises in accordance with the Company’s investment policy and equity investments. The Company’s investment policy defines allowable investment debt securities and establishes guidelines relating to credit quality, diversification, and maturities of its investments to preserve principal and maintain liquidity. All investment debt securities have a credit rating of at least A3/A- or better, or P-1/A-1 or better, as determined by Moody’s Investors Service or Standard & Poor’s.

The Company’s cash equivalents, available-for-sale investment securities and equity securities are classified within the fair value hierarchy as defined by authoritative guidance. The Company’s investment debt securities and equity securities classified as Level 1 are valued using quoted market prices. The Company obtains the fair value of its Level 2 financial instruments from third-party pricing services. The pricing services utilize industry standard valuation models whereby all significant inputs, including benchmark yields, reported trades, broker/dealer quotes, issuer spreads, bids, offers, or other market-related data, are observable. The Company validates the prices provided by the third-party pricing services by reviewing their pricing methods and matrices, and obtaining market values from other pricing sources. After completing the validation procedures, the Company did not adjust or override any fair value measurements provided by these pricing services as of September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017.

The Company does not hold any securities classified as Level 3, which are securities valued using unobservable inputs. The Company has not transferred any investment securities between the classification levels.

The recurring fair value of the Company’s cash equivalents, available-for-sale investment securities and equity securities at September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017 consisted of the following (in thousands):

			Fair Value Measurements at Reporting Date Using
	September 30, 2018		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Money market fund	$	55,160	$	55,160	$	—	$	—
Equity securities		1,182		1,182		—		—
Corporate debt securities		124,208		—		124,208		—
Commercial paper		26,031		—		26,031		—
	$	206,581	$	56,342	$	150,239	$	—

			Fair Value Measurements at Reporting Date Using
	December 31, 2017		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Money market fund	$	38,057	$	38,057	$	—	$	—
U.S. Treasury notes		32,964		32,964		—		—
Government sponsored enterprise securities		10,072		—		10,072		—
Corporate debt securities		154,396		—		154,396		—
Commercial paper		98,052		—		98,052		—
	$	333,541	$	71,021	$	262,520	$	—

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the fair value of financial instruments (as defined), including financial assets and financial liabilities (collectively, as defined), and the measurements of those instruments as well as disclosures related to the fair value of non-financial assets and liabilities. Such disclosures about the financial instruments, assets, and liabilities would include: (1) the fair value of the required items together with their carrying amounts (as appropriate); (2) for items for which it is not practicable to estimate fair value, disclosure would include: (a) information pertinent to estimating fair value (including, carrying amount, effective interest rate, and maturity, and (b) the reasons why it is not practicable to estimate fair value; (3) significant concentrations of credit risk including: (a) information about the activity, region, or economic characteristics identifying a concentration, (b) the maximum amount of loss the entity is exposed to based on the gross fair value of the related item, (c) policy for requiring collateral or other security and information as to accessing such collateral or security, and (d) the nature and brief description of such collateral or security; (4) quantitative information about market risks and how such risks are managed; (5) for items measured on both a recurring and nonrecurring basis information regarding the inputs used to develop the fair value measurement; and (6) for items presented in the financial statement for which fair value measurement is elected: (a) information necessary to understand the reasons for the election, (b) discussion of the effect of fair value changes on earnings, (c) a description of [similar groups] items for which the election is made and the relation thereof to the balance sheet, the aggregate carrying value of items included in the balance sheet that are not eligible for the election; (7) all other required (as defined) and desired information.

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