EQUITY

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Equity [Abstract]

Stockholders' Equity Note Disclosure [Text Block]

EQUITY

(a) Dividend Reinvestment Plan

On August 15, 2012, the Company announced that it is offering its stockholders an opportunity to participate in a Dividend Reinvestment Plan ("DRIP "). The Company is offering up to 600,000 shares of its common stock for purchase under the DRIP. The DRIP provides participants the ability to invest all or a portion of cash dividends on their Acorn shares in additional shares of the Company's common stock. Initially, the Company will issue the shares under the DRIP directly at a 5% discount from the market price. The DRIP is administered by the Company's stock transfer agent.

(b) Dividends

On February 7, 2012, the Company announced that its Board of Directors approved a first quarter 2012 dividend of $0.035 per share which was paid on March 1, 2012 to common stockholders of record on February 20, 2012. On April 19, 2012, the Company's Board of Directors approved a second quarter 2012 dividend of $0.035 per share which was paid on June 1, 2012 to common stockholders of record on May 15, 2012. On July 10, 2012, the Company's Board of Directors approved a third quarter 2012 dividend of $0.035 per share which was paid on September 4, 2012 to common stockholders of record on August 17, 2012. The dividends are a continuation of the Company's policy to pay a regular quarterly dividend. The March 1, 2012 dividend payment was $620 while the June 1, 2012 dividend payment was $627 and the September 4, 2012 dividend payment was $628 of which $559 was in cash and $69 (net of the DRIP discount of $3) was in common stock of the Company (representing 8,429 shares of common stock) in accordance with the DRIP. See Note 12 - Subsequent Events with respect to the declaration of the fourth quarter 2012 dividend.

(c) Acorn Stock Options

A summary of stock option activity for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 is as follows:

	Number  of Options (in shares)		Weighted Average Exercise Price Per Share		Weighed Average Remaining Contractual Life	Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Outstanding at December 31, 2011	1,388,333		$	4.17
Granted	190,000		$	8.09
Exercised	(215,197	)	$	3.18
Forfeited or expired	(152,803	)	$	5.29
Outstanding at September 30, 2012	1,210,333		$	4.82	3.5 years	$	5,028
Exercisable at September 30, 2012	944,708		$	4.13	4.1 years	$	4,526

 The weighted average grant date fair value of the 190,000 stock options granted during the first nine months of 2012 was $3.60 per share. The fair value of the options granted was estimated on the grant date using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model with the following weighted average assumptions:

Risk-free interest rate	1.3	%
Expected term of options, in years	6.5
Expected annual volatility	58	%
Expected dividend yield	1.8	%

(d) USSI Stock Option Plan

In February 2012, the Company adopted the USSI 2012 Stock Option Plan  for its USSI subsidiary to be administrated by the board of directors of USSI. In September 2012, USSI granted options to purchase 619,375 of its common shares, to senior management, employees, outside directors and a consultant of USSI under the Plan. The options were granted with an exercise price of $1.72 per share based on a valuation performed by an independent third party and are exercisable for a period of seven years. The options vest over a three to four year period based on date of hire or other benchmark specified in the option agreement. Upon exercise of all the options in the Plan, the Company’s holdings in USSI will be diluted from 93.6% to approximately 83.2% (see Subsequent Events - Note 12). During the three and nine month periods ending September 30, 2012, $281 was recorded as stock compensation expense with respect to the abovementioned options ($68 in Research and development expenses, net of credits and $213 in Selling, general and administrative expenses). The purposes of the Plan for our USSI subsidiary are to attract and retain the best available personnel for positions of substantial responsibility, to provide additional incentive to service providers and to promote the success of the business of USSI.

(e) Stock-based Compensation Expense

Stock-based compensation expense included in the Company’s Condensed Statements of Operations for the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2011 and 2012, was as follows:

	Nine months ended September 30,				Three months ended September 30,
	2011		2012		2011		2012
Research and development expenses, net of credits	$	—	$	68	$	—	$	68
Selling, general and administrative expenses	315		522		50		340
Total stock-based compensation expense	$	315	$	590	$	50	$	408

(f) Warrants

The Company previously issued warrants at exercise prices equal to or greater than market value of the Company’s common stock at the date of issuance.  A summary of warrant activity follows:

	Number  of Warrants (in shares)		Weighted Average Exercise Price Per Share		Weighed Average Remaining Contractual Life
Outstanding at December 31, 2011	313,806		$	4.29
Granted	—
Exercised	(269,808	)	$	4.39
Forfeited or expired	(15,248	)	$	3.68
Outstanding at September 30, 2012	28,750		$	3.68	3.2 years

During the nine months ended September 30, 2012, 36,502 warrants were exercised and 15,248 warrants were forfeited in connection with the “net exercise” of 51,750 warrants. In a net exercise of a warrant, the Company does not require a payment of the exercise price of the warrant from the warrant holder, but reduces the number of shares of common stock issued upon the exercise of the warrant by the smallest number of whole shares that has an aggregate fair market value equal to or in excess of the aggregate exercise price for the warrants covered by the warrants exercised. The 51,750 warrants which were exercised under this method had a weighted average exercise price of $3.68 per share.

(g) DSIT Warrants

In August 2012, the warrant to purchase 10% of DSIT issued in August 2005 to the purchaser of the Company's former dsIT Technologies, Ltd. subsidiary expired.