INVESTMENTS

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Investments In Debt Securities And Mutual Funds [Abstract]

Investments In Debt Securities And Mutual Funds [Text Block]

NOTE 5 — INVESTMENTS

The Company’s investments include debt securities, U.S. Treasury Notes, government and state agency bonds, mutual funds, corporate bonds and commercial paper, which are classified as either available for sale, held to maturity or trading, depending on management’s investment intentions relating to these securities. Available for sale securities are marked-to-market based on quoted market values of the securities, with the unrealized gain and (losses) reported as comprehensive income or (loss). For the three- and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2010, the Company reported unrealized gains of $66,000 and $154,000, respectively, and for the three- and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2011, the Company reported unrealized (loss) gain of $29,000 and $17,000, respectively, on available for sale securities in total comprehensive loss. Investments categorized as held to maturity are carried at amortized cost because the Company has both the intent and the ability to hold these investments until they mature. Realized gains and losses from the sale of available for sale securities are determined on a specific-identification basis. The Company has classified as short-term those securities that mature within one year and mutual funds, and all other securities are classified as long-term.

The following table summarizes the estimated fair value of investment securities designated as available for sale, excluding investment in mutual funds of $3,510,000, classified by the contractual maturity date of the security as of September 30, 2011:

	Fair Value
Due within one year	$	3,221,000
Due one year through three years		8,087,000
Due after three years		399,000
Long term		8,486,000
	$	11,707,000

The cost, gross unrealized gains (losses) and fair value of available for sale securities by major security types at September 30, 2011 are as follows:

			Unrealized		Unrealized			Fair
	Cost		Gain		Loss			Value
Investments — short term
Available for sale
U.S. Treasury Notes	$	560,000	$	1,000	$	-		$	561,000
Mutual funds		3,586,000		-		(76,000	)		3,510,000
Corporate bonds and commercial paper		1,207,000		5,000		-			1,212,000
Government agency bonds		1,447,000		1,000		-			1,448,000
Total available for sale — short term		6,800,000		7,000		(76,000	)		6,731,000
Marketable securities — long term
Available for sale
U.S. Treasury Notes		5,139,000		33,000		-			5,172,000
Government agency bonds		761,000		3,000		-			764,000
Corporate bonds and commercial paper		2,515,000		35,000					2,550,000
Total available for sale — long term		8,415,000		71,000		-			8,486,000
Total investments	$	15,215,000	$	78,000	$	(76,000	)	$	15,217,000

The Company utilizes a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value into three broad levels. The following is a brief description of those levels:

• Level 1: Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

• Level 2: Inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly. These include quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets and quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active.

• Level 3: Unobservable inputs that reflect the reporting entity’s own assumptions.

At September 30, 2011, the Company’s investments described above are classified as Level 1 for fair value measurements.