Note 4 - Investments Available for Sale

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Available-for-sale Securities [Table Text Block]

4.   Investments Available for Sale

The Company’s investments are classified as available for sale and are stated at fair value.  The Company’s investments available for sale were as follows (in thousands):

	September 30, 2011		December 31, 2010
Corporate Notes and Bonds	$	6,126	$	47,005
U.S. Treasury Notes		0		15,068
U.S. Government Corporations and Agencies		0		3,502
Accrued interest income		102		702
Total investments available for sale	$	6,228	$	66,277

At September 30, 2011 and 2010, gross unrealized holding gains were $2,000 and $178,000, respectively, and gross unrealized holding losses were $3,000 and $25,000, respectively.  Included in comprehensive income were changes in unrealized holding losses of $61,000 and $15,000 for the nine and three months ended September 30, 2011, respectively.  Included in comprehensive income were changes in unrealized holding gains of $77,000 and $110,000 for the nine and three months ended September 30, 2010, respectively.  The Company capitalizes any premiums paid or discounts received and amortizes the premiums or accretes the discounts on a straight-line basis over the remaining term of the security.  Investments by contractual maturities as of September 30, 2011 were as follows (in thousands):

Within one year	$	6,228
After one year through five years		0
After five years through ten years		0
After ten years		0
	$	6,228

During the nine months ended September 30, 2011, the Company received proceeds from the sale of investments available for sale of $23,812,000 and recognized a gain on sale of $12,000.  There were no sales of investments available for sale during the three months ended September 30, 2011 and the nine and three months ended September 30, 2010.  Realized gains and losses are recognized using the actual cost of the investment.