Note 5 - Marketable Securities

6 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2017

Notes to Financial Statements

Investments in Debt and Marketable Equity Securities (and Certain Trading Assets) Disclosure [Text Block]

5. Marketable Securities

Investments in available-for-sale marketable securities at

September 30, 2017

consisted of investments in publicly traded companies and had a fair market value of

$4,177,000,

an aggregate cost basis of

$4,294,000,

gross unrealized gains aggregating

$170,000

and gross unrealized losses aggregating

$287,000.

Marketable securities at

March 31, 2017

consisted of investments with a fair value of

$4,594,000,

an aggregate cost basis of

$4,331,000,

gross unrealized gains aggregating

$279,000

and gross unrealized losses aggregating

$16,000.

Securities that had been in a continuous loss position for less than

12

months as of

September 30, 2017

had an aggregate fair market value and unrealized loss of

$1,518,000

and

$286,000,

respectively.

At

September 30, 2017,

we held approximately

1.82

million shares of common stock of Insignia Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISIG) (“Insignia”), representing approximately

15%

of Insignia’s outstanding shares, which shares were acquired commencing in our fiscal year ended

March 31, 2015.

Any investment with a fair value of less than its cost basis is assessed for possible “other-than-temporary” impairment regularly and at each reporting date. Other-than-temporary impairments of available-for-sale marketable equity securities are recognized in the consolidated statement of income (loss). On the basis of its

June 30, 2016,

March 31, 2017 

and

June 30, 2017

assessments, the Company concluded that it had suffered an other-than-temporary impairment in its investment in the common stock of Insignia. Consistent with the applicable accounting guidance, the Company’s cost basis in the Insignia investment was lowered from

$5,106,000

to

$3,604,000

at

June 30, 2016

and then to

$2,463,000

at

March 31, 2017 

and to

$1,724,000

at

June 30, 2017

after the acquisition during the quarter of shares having a cost basis of

$32,000,

reflecting, in the aggregate, an other-than-temporary impairment of

$3,414,000.

On

January 6, 2017,

Insignia paid a special dividend of

$0.70

per share to stockholders owning Insignia shares on that date. The receipt of such special dividend is included in the other investment income (loss) in the Company’s consolidated statements of income (loss) for the fiscal year ended

March 31, 2017.

During the

fourth

quarter of the

2017

fiscal year, we recognized an additional investment loss of approximately

$112,000

principally due to an other-than-temporary decline in fair value of other investment securities that had been in a continuous loss position for more than

12

months.

All securities are priced using publicly quoted market prices and are considered Level

1

fair value measurements.