Stock-Based Compensation

3 Months Ended

Jul. 31, 2017

The Company has stock-based compensation plans under which employees may be granted performance-based stock awards and other restricted stock awards. Prior to fiscal year 2017, the Company also granted options to purchase shares of Company common stock at the fair market value at the time of grant. The Company recognizes the grant date fair value of stock-based compensation in net income on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period. The measurement of performance for performance-based stock awards is based on actual financial results for targets established three years in advance. For the three months ended January 31, 2017 and 2016, the Company recognized stock-based compensation (benefit) expense, on a pre-tax basis, of ($1.5) million and $0.2 million, respectively. The decrease from prior year was mainly driven by a reduction in the number of performance-based stock awards expected to vest based on the Company's financial results.

The following table summarizes restricted stock awards granted by the Company:

	For the Three Months Ended July 31,
	2017	2016
Restricted Stock:
Awards granted (in thousands)	387	368
Weighted average fair value of grant	$51.35	$51.04

- Definition

The entire disclosure for compensation-related costs for equity-based compensation, which may include disclosure of policies, compensation plan details, allocation of equity compensation, incentive distributions, equity-based arrangements to obtain goods and services, deferred compensation arrangements, employee stock ownership plan details and employee stock purchase plan details.

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