Short- and Long-Term Investments
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6 Months Ended |
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Jul. 30, 2011
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Short- and Long-Term Investments |
NOTE 6. Short- and Long-Term Investments
Our
short-term investments consist of highly-rated interest-bearing
municipal bonds that have maturities that are less than one year
and are accounted for as available for sale and certificates of
deposit that are guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation, classified as held to maturity and have maturities
that are less than one year. As of the end of the second
quarter of fiscal 2011, short-term investments consisted of
certificates of deposit of $4.1 million and municipal bonds of
$11.4 million. As of the end of fiscal 2010, short-term
investments consisted of certificates of deposit of $5.0 million
and municipal bonds of $20.2 million. (Refer to
“NOTE 9 – Fair Value Measurements” for further
discussion on how we determined the fair value of our short-term
investments). The associated unrealized losses and gains
in the second quarter of fiscal 2011 and in the full year of fiscal
2010, respectively, were immaterial and have been recorded in
accumulated other comprehensive loss, or OCL, reflected in the
shareholders’ equity section of the consolidated balance
sheet.
As
of the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2011, we held long-term
investments in auction rate securities. As of the end of
fiscal 2010, our long-term investments comprised of auction rate
securities and highly-rated interest-bearing municipal bonds that
have maturities that are more than one year and are accounted for
as available for sale. As of the end of fiscal 2010, the
fair value of our long-term municipal bonds was $0.5 million and
the associated unrealized losses were immaterial and recorded in
OCL reflected in the shareholders’ equity section of the
consolidated balance sheet.
Our
auction rate securities are AAA/A3-rated debt instruments with
maturities of 26 years. They are accounted for as
available for sale and backed by pools of student loans guaranteed
by the U.S. Department of Education. Their interest
rates are reset through an auction process, most commonly at
intervals of approximately 4 weeks. This same auction
process is designed to provide a means by which these securities
can be sold and prior to 2008 had provided a liquid market for
them. There continues to be uncertainty in the global
credit and capital markets, which has resulted in the failure of
auctions representing the auction rate securities we hold as the
amount of securities submitted for sale in those auctions exceed
the amount of bids. While we have continued to earn and
receive interest on our auction rate securities through the date of
this report, we concluded that their estimated fair value no longer
approximates par value. Due to the lack of availability
of observable market quotes on our auction rate securities, the
fair market value of these securities has been based on a valuation
model using current assumptions. (Refer to “NOTE 9
– Fair Value Measurements” for further discussion on
how we determined the fair value of our investment in auction rate
securities).
As
of the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2011 and as of the end
of fiscal 2010, the fair value of our auction rate securities was
$1.8 million and $2.5 million, respectively. The $0.7
million decline in fair value from the beginning of the fiscal year
represents redemptions totaling $0.8 million of certain auction
rate securities at par, of which $0.7 million was redeemed during
the second quarter of fiscal 2011. The redemptions were
offset by a $0.1 million recovery in fair value of auction rate
securities that were previously temporarily
impaired. The fair value of our remaining auction rate
securities as of the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2011
reflects a cumulative decline of $0.4 million from the par
value. This cumulative $0.4 million decline ($0.3
million net of tax) is deemed temporary as we have the ability to
hold these securities and we do not have the intent to sell
them. Furthermore, it is not likely that we will be
required to sell the securities before the recovery of their
amortized cost basis. If uncertainties in the credit and
capital markets continue, we may incur additional losses, some of
which may be other-than-temporary, which could negatively affect
our financial condition or results of operations. In
addition, in the event that we decide to sell these securities and
it becomes likely that we will be required to sell the securities
before the recovery of their amortized cost basis, we may be
required to recognize impairment charges against
income. We have classified all auction rate securities
as non-current assets on our consolidated balance sheet, as we do
not expect them to successfully auction and recover their full or
par value within the next 12 months.
As
of the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2011, we have recorded
unrealized gains of $0.1 million ($0.1 million net of tax) for our
auction rate securities in OCL reflected in the shareholders’
equity section of the consolidated balance sheets. As of
the end of fiscal 2010, we recorded unrealized gains of $0.2
million ($0.1 million net of tax).
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