Note 11 - Stockholders' Equity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Stockholders' Equity Note Disclosure [Text Block]

(11)  Stockholders' Equity

(a)   Employee Stock Incentive Plans

In May 2002, we adopted the 2002 Equity Incentive Plan  (the "Plan") for employees, outside directors and consultants.   The Plan allows for the granting of up to 625,000 shares of our common stock at the inception of the Plan, plus all shares remaining available for issuance under all predecessor plans on the effective date of this Plan, and additional shares as defined in the Plan.  On May 1, 2002, four predecessor plans were terminated and a total of 538,370 shares available for issuance under these predecessor plans were transferred to the Plan.  As shares are forfeited or expire under the four predecessor plans, those shares become available under the Plan.  Since the initial transfer on May 1, 2002, an additional 201,510 shares were transferred to the Plan.  At December 31, 2011, options to purchase 438,569 shares were outstanding with exercise prices ranging from $0.04 to $4.80 per share at the date of grant.  The option vesting periods vary from six months to four years and the options expire ten years from the date of grant.  At December 31, 2011, 36,713 shares remained available for grant under the Plan, including forfeitures.

The following is a summary of stock options outstanding as of December 31, 2011:

		Weighted	Weighted		Weighted
Range of		Average	Average		Average Vested
Exercise	Options	Remaining	Exercise Price	Options	Exercise Price
Prices	Outstanding	Contractual Life	per share	Exercisable	per share
$0.04 - $1.00	301,069	1.49 years	$    0.04	301,069	$    0.04
$1.01 - $3.00	12,500	1.12 years	1.24	12,500	1.24
$3.01 - $4.00	100,000	7.04 years	3.02	50,000	3.02
$4.01 - $5.00	25,000	3.26 years	4.76	25,000	4.76
	438,569	2.85 years	$    0.77	388,569	$   1.02

During the years ended December 31, 2011and 2010, no options were granted.

A summary of stock option activity follows:

				Weighted		Aggregate
	Number of			Average		Intrinsic
	Shares			Exercise price		Value of options
Options outstanding at December 31, 2009		891,044		$	0.52
Options granted		--			--
Options forfeited (expired)		--			--
Options exercised		(376,875	)		0.04	$	1,467,748
Options outstanding at December 31, 2010		514,169			0.51
Options granted		--			--
Options forfeited (expired)		--			--
Options exercised		(75,600	)		0.04		402,606
Options outstanding at December 31, 2011		438,569			0.77		2,384,613
Options exercisable at December 31, 2011		388,569			1.02		2,212,613

The compensation costs of restricted stock awards under the Plan were determined based on the fair value of our common stock on the date of grant and expensed over each award's respective vesting period.  Restricted stock vesting periods vary from immediate to four years from the date of grant.  

During 2011, the following amounts of restricted stock were granted with the fair market value on the date of grant as indicated: 50,000 shares at $5.57 per share, 5,241 shares at $4.77 per share, 4,505 shares at $5.55 per share, 3,342 shares at $7.48 per share, 4,960 shares at $5.04 per share, and 30,000 shares at $5.26 per share.

During 2010, the following amounts of restricted stock were granted with the fair market value on the date of grant as indicated: 140,000 shares at $3.71 per share, 130,000 shares at $4.38 per share and 10,894 shares at $4.59 per share.  

A summary of restricted stock grant activity follows:

				Weighted
				Average
	Number of			Grant Date
	Shares			Fair Value
Non-vested stock at December 31, 2009		336,870		$	4.12
Stock granted		280,894			4.05
Stock vested		(138,005	)		5.05
Non-vested stock at December 31, 2010		479,759			3.81
Stock granted		98,048			5.47
Stock vested		(171,442	)		3.75
Non-vested stock at December 31, 2011		406,365			4.24

Operating expenses included in the consolidated statements of operations for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010 include total compensation expense associated with stock options and restricted stock grants of $763,000 and $935,000, respectively.

The weighted average remaining contractual life of the options exercisable at December 31, 2011 was 2.31 years and at December 31, 2010 was 2.90 years.

As of December 31, 2011, compensation costs related to non-vested awards under the Plan totaled $1.3 million for non-vested restricted shares and $0.1 million for non-vested options, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 2.3 years.

(b)  Common Stock Repurchase Program

In October 1998, the Board of Directors approved a plan whereby we are authorized to repurchase from time to time on the open market up to 500,000 shares of its common stock.  At December 31, 1998, we had repurchased 164,375 shares of common stock at an average price per share of $19.08 for a total cost of approximately $3,136,000.  During the year ended December 31, 2006, we repurchased 69,782 shares of common stock at prices ranging from $5.40 to $5.76 price per share for a total cost of approximately $390,000.  During the year ended December 31, 2007, we repurchased 91,966 shares at prices ranging from $7.60 to $8.00 for a total cost of approximately $728,000.  During the year ended December 31, 2008, we repurchased 84,814 shares at prices ranging from $2.90 to $6.73 for a total cost of approximately $500,000.  During 2011, 2010 and 2009, no shares were repurchased.  The repurchased shares are held in treasury.

(c)  Deferred Compensation

Due to the passage of The American Jobs Creation Act and the subsequent IRS Section 409A rules, stock options that were issued with a strike price less than market value at the date of grant will now be considered deferred compensation by the Internal Revenue Service and the individual who was granted the options will incur adverse tax consequences, including, without limitation, excise taxes, unless the individual elected to deem a future exercise date of the unvested stock options at December 31, 2004 and made this election before December 31, 2005.  As a result of the compliance with the American Job Creation Act, a summary of the elected future exercise dates is as follows:

Period of Exercise	Total Options to be Exercised
2012		15,396
2013		1,250
Total Options		16,646