Stock-based Compensation Expense

3 Months Ended

Mar. 30, 2018

Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Abstract]

Stock-based compensation expense, which includes awards settled in shares and in cash, was $2.5 million and $2.3 million in the first quarter of 2018 and 2017, respectively.

The Company granted 65,112 stock appreciation rights to certain employees during the first quarter of 2018. The weighted-average exercise price per share and weighted-average fair value per share of the SARs granted during the three months ended March 30, 2018 were $50.35 and $15.73, respectively. The Company estimated the fair value of the SARs using the following weighted-average assumptions in the Black-Scholes model:



Risk-free interest rate	2.58	%
Dividend yield	0.8	%
Volatility	31.9	%
Expected term (in years)	5.5

The Company granted 59,222 stock-settled restricted stock units (RSUs) to certain employees during the first three months of 2018. The Company measures the fair value of stock-settled RSUs based on the closing market price of a share of Materion common stock on the date of the grant. The weighted-average fair value per share was $50.35 for stock-settled RSUs granted during the three months ended March 30, 2018. RSUs are expensed over the vesting period of three years.

The Company granted stock-settled performance-based restricted stock units (PRSUs) to certain employees in the first quarter of 2018. The weighted-average fair value of the stock-settled PRSUs was $50.35 per share and will be expensed over the vesting period of three years. The final payout to the employees for all PRSUs will be based upon the Company’s return on invested capital and the total return to shareholders over the vesting period relative to a peer group’s performance over the same period.

At March 30, 2018, unearned compensation cost related to the unvested portion of all stock-based awards was approximately $10.4 million, and is expected to be recognized over the remaining vesting period of the respective grants.