Marketable Securities

3 Months Ended

Jan. 31, 2015

Marketable Securities [Abstract]

Marketable Securities

Marketable Securities

We have marketable securities that are invested in money market and mutual funds that are liquid and actively traded on the exchanges. These securities are assets that are held in rabbi trusts established for our deferred compensation plans. For further information on the deferred compensation plans, see Note 10 to the condensed consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-Q.

We have classified these marketable securities as trading securities since their inception as the assets are held in rabbi trusts. Trading securities are recorded at fair value on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets with any gains or losses recognized currently in earnings. We do not intend to engage in active trading of the securities, and participants in the deferred compensation plans may redirect their deemed investments at any time. We have matched the current portion of the deferred compensation liability with the current asset and the noncurrent deferred compensation liability with the noncurrent asset; the current asset portion is included in “Other current assets” in “Current Assets” in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.

The money market investments in the trusts approximate fair value due to the short period of time to maturity. The fair values of the equity securities are based on quoted market prices as traded on the exchanges. The composition of these securities as of January 31, 2015 and October 31, 2014 is as follows.

	January 31, 2015				October 31, 2014
In thousands	Cost		Fair Value		Cost		Fair Value
Current trading securities:
Money markets	$	45	$	45	$	22	$	22
Mutual funds	91		153		106		192
Total current trading securities	136		198		128		214
Noncurrent trading securities:
Money markets	479		479		447		447
Mutual funds	3,599		4,064		2,598		3,280
Total noncurrent trading securities	4,078		4,543		3,045		3,727
Total trading securities	$	4,214	$	4,741	$	3,173	$	3,941