Earnings Per Share

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Earnings Per Share

Earnings Per Share

18. Earnings Per Share

        The Company computes earnings per share using the two-class method, an earnings allocation formula that determines earnings per share for common stock and participating securities according to dividends declared and participation rights in undistributed earnings, when that method results in a more dilutive effect than the Treasury method. The Company's unvested grants of restricted stock contain non-forfeitable rights to dividends, should any be declared, and are treated as participating securities and included in the computation of earnings per share.

        Net income available to common shareholders and the weighted average number of common shares used to compute basic and diluted earnings per share was as follows for the years ended December 31:

(in thousands except per share data)	2011			2010		2009
Numerator:
Net income	$	18,298		$	16,122	$	17,235
Less: Net income allocated to participating securities		(97	)		—		—
Net income available to common shareholders	$	18,201		$	16,122	$	17,235
Denominator:
Weighted average common shares outstanding		20,151			19,883		19,755
Weighted average dilutive securities		842			899		947
Weighted average common shares outstanding, diluted		20,993			20,782		20,702
Income per common share, basic	$	0.90		$	0.81	$	0.87
Income per common share, diluted	$	0.87		$	0.78	$	0.83

        Potential common shares related to the assumed exercise of stock options are not included in the denominator of the diluted earnings per share calculation if the inclusion of such shares would either be anti-dilutive or if the exercise prices of those common stock equivalents were greater than the average market price of the Company's common stock for the period. For the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, outstanding stock options of 89,240 and 105,242, respectively, were excluded as common stock equivalents from the diluted earnings per share calculation. Additionally, for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, potential common shares related to the unvested portion of performance awards of 51,879 and 40,256, respectively, were excluded from the denominator of the diluted earnings per share calculation as the underlying performance obligation was not met as of the end of those periods.