STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

On October 26, 2011, the stockholders approved the 2009 Stock Incentive Plan (the 2009 Plan) which authorizes up to 4,160,000 shares of Company Common Stock to be issued for the award of restricted stock, restricted stock units (RSUs), performance restricted stock units (PRSUs) and stock appreciation rights (SARs) at the discretion of the Company Board as compensation to employees, consultants of the Company and to non-employee directors. Under the 2009 Plan, an additional 2,350,000 shares, or 6,510,000 shares in total, are reserved for issuance as approved by shareholders on May 15, 2014 and May 8, 2017. The expense is measured at the grant-date fair value of the award and recognized as compensation expense on a straight-line basis over the service period, which is the vesting period. There was no cash flow impact resulting from the grants of these awards. The 2009 Plan is generally protected from anti-dilution via adjustments for any stock dividends, stock split, combination or other recapitalization.

The Company recorded stock-based compensation expense of $6,909, $5,896 and $5,161 for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. The stock-based compensation costs were included as a component of selling, general and administrative expenses. At December 31, 2017, there was $6,221 of unrecognized compensation expense related to unvested awards, which is expected to be recognized over a period of approximately 3.4 years.

Restricted Stock Units

The following table summarizes information about the Company’s Common Stock RSU’s granted, vested, exercised and forfeited:



	Number of Awards		Weighted Average Issue Price
Awards outstanding - January 1, 2015	616,394			$15.00
Issued	339,280			$9.34
Vested and restriction lapsed	(295,089	)		$9.36
Forfeited	(22,687	)		$10.56
Awards outstanding - December 31, 2015	637,898			$12.87
Issued	504,647			$9.07
Vested and restriction lapsed	(249,356	)		$9.77
Forfeited	(33,938	)		$8.15
Awards outstanding - December 31, 2016	859,251			$11.73
Issued	360,741			$11.91
Vested and restriction lapsed	(204,198	)		$11.05
Forfeited	(127,403	)		$10.04
Awards outstanding - December 31, 2017	888,391			$12.12

The RSUs convert into one share of common stock upon vesting. RSU’s cliff vest at the earlier of expressly provided service or performance conditions. The service period for these RSU awards, excluding those issued to the Company’s Board of Directors (one year) and certain executive management (three to four years), is a three year period from the grant date. The performance conditions provide for accelerated vesting upon various conditions including a change in control or other common stock liquidity events.

Performance Restricted Stock Units

The following table summarizes information about the Company’s Common Stock RSU’s granted, vested, exercised and forfeited:



	Number of Awards		Weighted Average Issue Price
Awards outstanding -January 1, 2015	—		$	—
Issued	59,623		$	9.40
Vested and restriction lapsed	—		$	—
Forfeited	—		$	—
Awards outstanding - December 31, 2015	59,623		$	9.40
Issued	175,217		$	9.06
Vested and restriction lapsed	—		$	—
Forfeited	—		$	—
Awards outstanding - December 31, 2016	234,840		$	9.15
Issued	270,765		$	11.79
Vested and restriction lapsed	(87,622	)	$	11.75
Forfeited	(62,865	)	$	9.48
Awards outstanding - December 31, 2017	355,118		$	10.46

The PRSUs convert into one share of common stock upon vesting. PRSUs vest in different tranches upon meeting certain performance conditions, which are generally based on the Company's stock price performance and expressly provided service. These PRSUs are fair valued at grant date based on Monte Carlo simulations or at a percentage of the stock price at grant date. The derived service period for these PRSU awards as a result of the Monte Carlo simulation, is an approximately two year period from the grant date. The performance conditions provide for accelerated vesting upon various conditions including a change in control or other common stock liquidity events.

Stock Appreciation Rights

The following table summarizes information about SARs granted, forfeited, vested and exercisable:



	Number of SAR’s		Weighted Average Exercise Price		Weighted Average Contractual Term
SAR's outstanding - January 1, 2015	1,809,302			$10.63
Granted	655,855			$9.47
Exercised	(14,470	)		$9.21
Forfeited	(54,561	)		$10.30
SAR's outstanding - December 31, 2015	2,396,126			$10.33	7.6 years
Granted	176,824			$8.80
Exercised	(8,003	)		$8.57
Forfeited	(56,932	)		$10.75
SAR's outstanding - December 31, 2016	2,508,015			$10.22	6.7 years
Granted	—
Exercised	(700,765	)		$10.36
Forfeited	(105,981	)		$9.66
SAR's outstanding - December 31, 2017	1,701,269			$10.20	5.7 years
SAR's exercisable - December 31, 2017	1,247,161			$10.34	5.7 years
SAR's expected to vest - December 31, 2017	863,626			$10.40	5.7 years

The SARs vest 25% annually on each of the four anniversary dates following the grant date and expire after ten years. The fair value of each SAR grant is estimated using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model as set forth in the table below:



	2017	2016	2015
The weighted average fair value of stock appreciation rights issued (per unit)	$2.79 - $3.74	$2.79 - $3.74	$3.33 - $3.90
Dividend yield	—%	—%	—%
Weighted average risk-free interest rate	1.1% - 1.4%	1.1% - 1.4%	1.4% - 1.6%
Weighted average expected volatility	40%	40%	40%
Expected life in years	6.25	6.25	6.25

Stock Options

At the end of December 31, 2014 and 2015, there were 87,026 options outstanding at $23.75/share. Such options were forfeited during 2016. There were no outstanding stock options at December 31, 2017 and 2016. There was no intrinsic value of options granted, exercised or outstanding during the periods presented.