Stock-Based Compensation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Disclosure Of Compensation Related Costs Sharebased Payments [Abstract]

5.	STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

On September 30, 2015 the Company had stock options outstanding under its 2000 Stock Option Plan, stock options and stock awards outstanding under its 2006 Incentive Compensation Plan and stock options, stock awards and stock appreciation rights (SARs) outstanding under its 2011 Incentive Compensation Plan.

Compensation expense (income) recorded for all stock options, stock awards and SARs was as follows:

(In thousands)
Three Months Ended September 30						Nine Months Ended September 30
2015			2014			2015		2014
$	(201	)	$	(164	)	$	2,961	$	606

Stock-based compensation income was recorded for the three months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014 primarily as the result of declines in the fair values of the Company’s cash-settled SARs, which are marked to fair value at each reporting period. Quarter-to-quarter decreases in the market value of Company common stock in the noted reporting periods led to the declines in SARs fair value.

The year-over-year increase in stock-based compensation expense was primarily attributable to increases in compensation related to SARs and performance awards. SARs compensation expense increased due to increases in the fair values of SARs in 2015 compared to declines in the fair values of SARs in 2014. The 2015 fair value increases resulted from an increase in Company common stock value, and the 2014 fair value decreases resulted from a decline in Company common stock value. Performance award stock-based compensation expense was down between years as the result of expense-lowering adjustments made in 2014 that reflected management’s assessment that the profitability performance targets for certain grants would not be achieved.

Unrecognized compensation costs for stock options, stock awards and SARs were as follows:

(In thousands)	September 30, 2015		December 31, 2014
Stock options	$	1,082	$	774
Stock awards		2,987		1,365
SARs		2,122		693

The increases in unrecognized compensation costs for stock options, stock awards and SARs reflected the 2015 grants of:

	Shares
Stock options		84,672
Stock awards		74,712
SARs		187,527

The unrecognized compensation costs at September 30, 2015, are expected to be recognized over weighted-average periods of 1.2 years, 2.0 years and 1.3 years for stock options, stock awards and SARs, respectively.