Marketable Securities and Investments in Limited Partnerships

3 Months Ended

Mar. 29, 2014

Marketable Securities and Equity-Method Affiliates [Abstract]

Marketable Securities and Equity-Method Affiliates

MARKETABLE SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS IN LIMITED PARTNERSHIPS

Marketable Securities

Our investments in marketable securities are reported at fair value and consist of time deposits with original maturities ranging from three months to one year. The carrying value for these time deposits approximates fair value and, accordingly, there are no unrealized gains or losses reflected on the consolidated balance sheet. As of March 29, 2014, and December 28, 2013, we held $11,446 and $11,158 of marketable securities, respectively.

Investments in Venture Capital Limited Partnerships

We have invested in several venture capital limited partnerships that invest in start-up companies in the life sciences industry. Our total commitment to these entities as ofMarch 29, 2014 is $35,000 of which we have funded $13,829 to date. During the quarter ended March 29, 2014, we received dividends in cash and in securities totaling $6,498. Our ownership interest in these limited partnerships ranges from 3.8% to 12.1%. These limited partnerships prepare quarterly financial statements following investment company accounting guidelines, whereby investments are adjusted to fair value with resulting gains and losses recorded in earnings. These entities estimate the fair value of non-publicly traded investments based on all available information, including value implied by the pricing of subsequent preferred share offerings and the net present value of future cash flows.

We account for these investments under the equity-method, whereby we record our portion of the investment gains and losses as reported in the fund's financial statements on a quarterly lag each reporting period. In addition, we adjust the carrying value of these investments to reflect our estimate of changes to fair value since the fund's financial statements based information from the fund's management team, market prices of known public holdings of the fund and other information.

Our investments in these limited partnerships are subject to a high degree of volatility and are generally higher risk relative to other investments we may make. We report gains and losses from our limited partnership investments in other income (expense), net. We recognized gains (losses) of $6,104 and $(90) for the three months ended March 29, 2014 and March 30, 2013, respectively, related to these investments. As of March 29, 2014, these investments had a carrying value of $18,973, which is reported in other assets on the consolidated balance sheets.