Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

3 Months Ended

Jul. 31, 2012

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

(2) Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, including deferred tax asset valuation allowances and certain other reserves and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Estimates and assumptions are reviewed periodically and the effects of revisions are reflected in the consolidated financial statements in the period they are determined to be necessary. Some of the more significant estimates made by management include the allowance for doubtful accounts and sales returns, the collectability of note receivable, the deferred income tax asset valuation allowance and other operating allowances and accruals. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Engineering and Research and Development

Research and development costs are expensed as incurred, including Company-sponsored research and development and costs of patents and other intellectual property that have no alternative future use when acquired and in which we had an uncertainty in receiving future economic benefits. Development costs of a computer software product to be sold, leased, or otherwise marketed are subject to capitalization beginning when a product’s technological feasibility has been established and ending when a product is available for general release to customers. Technological feasibility of a computer software product is established when all planning, designing, coding and testing activities that are necessary to establish that the product can be produced to meet its design specifications (including functions, features and technical performance requirements) are completed. The Company had been developing computer software for its XcelaSAN storage caching product line. On November 4, 2010, the Company determined that technological feasibility of the product was established, and development costs subsequent to that date have been capitalized. Prior to November 4, 2010, the Company expensed all development costs related to this product line. In the third quarter of fiscal 2012 when the product was made available for general release to customers, the Company discontinued capitalizing development costs.

During the third quarter of fiscal 2012, the XcelaSAN product was available for general release and generated approximately $8,000 of revenue, which was significantly lower than expected. The Company capitalized approximately $907,000 of XcelaSAN development cost in the first six months of fiscal 2012. The Company capitalized approximately $1,480,000 of XcelaSAN research and development costs in fiscal 2011. The Company determined in fiscal 2012’s third quarter based on the estimated future net realizable value for the expected periods of benefit that the carrying value of capitalized software development cost was impaired. As such, approximately $2,387,000 of capitalized software development cost was written down to zero.

Advertising

Advertising is expensed as incurred and amounted to approximately $25,000 in fiscal 2013’s first quarter compared to approximately $98,000 in the comparable prior year period.

Income Taxes

The Company utilizes the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes in accordance with the provisions of the “Expenses – Income Taxes Topic” of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”). Under the asset and liability method, deferred income tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. A valuation allowance is provided when it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred income tax assets will not be realized. The Company considers certain tax planning strategies in its assessment as to the recoverability of its tax assets. Deferred income tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred income tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in earnings in the period that the tax rate changes. The Company recognizes, in its consolidated financial statements, the impact of a tax position, if that position is more likely than not to be sustained on audit, based on technical merits of the position.  There are no material unrecognized tax positions in the financial statements. As of July 31, 2012, the Company had Federal and state net operating loss (“NOL”) carry-forwards of approximately $19.0 million and $17.1 million, respectively. These can be used to offset future taxable income and expire between 2023 and 2032 for Federal tax purposes and 2016 and 2032 for state tax purposes. The Company’s NOL carry-forwards are a component of its deferred income tax assets which are reported net of a full valuation allowance in the Company’s consolidated financial statements at July 31, 2012 and April 30, 2012.

Net Loss Per Share

Basic net loss per share is computed by dividing the net loss by the weighted average number of shares of common stock issued and outstanding during the period. The calculation of diluted loss per share for the three months ended July 31, 2012 and 2011 includes only the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding. The denominator excludes the dilutive effect of stock options and warrants outstanding as their effect would be anti-dilutive.

The following presents a reconciliation of the numerator and denominator used in computing basic and diluted net loss per share for the three month periods ended July 31, 2012 and 2011:

	Three Months ended July 31, 2012
	Loss			Shares		Per share
	(numerator)			(denominator)		amount
Basic net loss per share – net loss and weighted average common shares outstanding	$	(975,717	)		10,703,309	$	(.09	)
Effect of dilutive securities – stock options		—			—		—
Effect of dilutive securities – warrants		—			—		—
Diluted net loss per share – net loss, weighted average common shares outstanding and effect of stock options and warrants	$	(975,717	)		10,703,309	$	(.09	)

	Three Months ended July 31, 2011
	Loss			Shares		Per share
	(numerator)			(denominator)		amount
Basic net loss per share – net loss and weighted average common shares outstanding	$	(853,957	)		10,394,613	$	(.08	)
Effect of dilutive securities – stock options		—			—		—
Effect of dilutive securities – warrants		—			—		—
Diluted net loss per share – net loss, weighted average common shares outstanding and effect of stock options and warrants	$	(853,957	)		10,394,613	$	(.08	)

Diluted net loss per common share for the three month periods ended July 31, 2012 and 2011 do not include the effect of options to purchase 1,895,900 and 1,899,200 shares, respectively, of common stock because they are anti-dilutive. Diluted net loss per common share for the three month periods ended July 31, 2012 and 2011 do not include the effect of warrants to purchase 1,331,250 and nil shares, respectively, of common stock because they are anti-dilutive.

Common Stock Repurchases

On December 4, 2002, the Company announced an open market repurchase plan providing for the repurchase of up to 500,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. On April 10, 2012, the Company announced the additional authorization to repurchase up to 828,000 shares of the Company’s common stock which at that time made the total available for purchase of up to 1,000,000 shares. In fiscal 2013’s first quarter ended July 31, 2012 the Company repurchased 137,664 shares for a total cost of $142,262, versus nil in the prior year first quarter. As of July 31, 2012, the total number of shares authorized for purchase under the program is 818,436 shares.

Stock Option Expense

a. Stock-Based Compensation

The Company has a 2001 incentive and non-statutory stock option plan for the purpose of permitting certain key employees to acquire equity in the Company and to promote the growth and profitability of the Company by attracting and retaining key employees. In general, the plan allows granting of up to 1,800,000 shares of the Company’s common stock at an option price to be no less than the fair market value of the Company’s common stock on the date such options are granted. Options granted under the plan vest ratably on the annual anniversary date of the grants. Vesting periods for options currently granted under the plan range from one to five years. No further options may be granted under this plan.

The Company also has a 2011 incentive and non-statutory stock option plan for the purpose of permitting certain key employees and consultants to acquire equity in the Company and to promote the growth and profitability of the Company by attracting and retaining key employees. No executive officer or director of the Company is eligible to receive options under the 2011 plan. In general, the plan allows granting of up to 200,000 shares of the Company’s common stock at an option price to be no less than the fair market value of the Company’s common stock on the date such options are granted. Options granted under the plan vest ratably on the annual anniversary date of the grants. Vesting periods for options currently granted under the plan range from one to five years. There have been nil shares granted under this plan.

The Company periodically grants nonqualified stock options to non-employee directors of the Company. These options are granted for the purpose of retaining the services of directors who are not employees of the Company and to provide additional incentive for such directors to work to further the best interests of the Company and its shareholders. The options granted to these non-employee directors are exercisable at a price representing the fair value at the date of grant and expire either five or ten years after date of grant. Vesting periods for options currently granted range from one to two years.

On September 23, 2010, the Company granted Mr. Sheerr, who is employed by the Company as the General Manager of the acquired MMB business unit described in Note 4 and is an executive officer of the Company, nonqualified stock options to purchase 100,000 shares of the Company’s common stock pursuant to his employment agreement. On September 22, 2011, the Company granted Mr. Sheerr additional nonqualified stock options to purchase 100,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, pursuant to his employment agreement. On July 19, 2012, the Company granted Mr. Sheerr additional nonqualified stock options to purchase 100,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, also pursuant to his employment agreement. The options granted are exercisable at a price representing the fair value at the date of grant and expire five years after date of grant. The options vest in one year.

New shares of the Company's common stock are issued upon exercise of stock options.

As required by the “Compensation - Stock Compensation Topic” of the FASB, the accounting for transactions in which an enterprise receives employee services in exchange for (a) equity instruments of the enterprise or (b) liabilities that are based on the fair value of the enterprise’s equity instruments or that may be settled by the issuance of such equity instruments are accounted for using a fair value-based method with a recognition of an expense for compensation cost related to share-based payment arrangements, including stock options and employee stock purchase plans.

Our consolidated statements of operations for the three months ended July 31, 2012 and July 31, 2011 include approximately $99,000 and $148,000 of stock-based compensation expense, respectively. These stock option grants have been classified as equity instruments, and as such, a corresponding increase has been reflected in additional paid-in capital in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. The fair value of each stock option granted is estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model.

A summary of option activity for the three months ended July 31, 2012 is as follows:

	Shares		Weighted average exercise price		Weighted average remaining contractual life (1)		Aggregate intrinsic value (2)
Balance April 30, 2012		1,745,900	$	2.34		5.29	$	0
Granted		100,000	$	0.69		—		—
Exercised		0		—		—		—
Expired		0		—		—		—
Balance July 31, 2012		1,845,900	$	2.25		5.05	$	0
Exercisable July 31, 2012		1,397,400	$	2.51		5.01	$	0
Expected to vest July 31, 2012		1,754,000	$	2.25		5.05		—

(1) This amount represents the weighted average remaining contractual life of stock options in years.

(2) This amount represents the difference between the exercise price and $0.64, the closing price of Dataram common stock on July 31, 2012 as reported on the NASDAQ Stock Market, for all in-the-money options outstanding and all the in-the-money shares exercisable. There were nil in-the-money options at July 31, 2012.

As of July 31, 2012, there was approximately $141,000 of total unrecognized compensation costs related to stock options. These costs are expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of approximately six months.

b. Other Stock Options

On June 30, 2008, the Company granted options to purchase 50,000 shares of the Company’s common stock to a privately held company in exchange for certain patents and other intellectual property. The options granted are exercisable at a price of $2.60 per share which was the fair value at the date of grant, were 100% exercisable on the date of grant and expire ten years after the date of grant.