Note 7 - Derivative Instrument Assets And Liabilities

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Text Block]

7. DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENT ASSETS AND LIABILITIES:

The Company enters into foreign currency contracts to hedge a portion of the Company's expected Canadian dollar requirements. All derivative financial instruments are recorded at fair value on our consolidated balance sheet. The fair value of our foreign currency contracts at September 30, 2012 was a net unrealized gain of $0.5 million as compared to a net unrealized loss of $1.6 million at September 30, 2011. The net unrealized gain is a result of fluctuations in foreign exchange rates between the date the currency forward contracts were entered into and the valuation date at period end.

At September 30, 2012, the Company had the following outstanding forward exchange contracts to trade U.S. dollars in exchange for Canadian dollars:

Maturity date	Notional amount of U.S. dollars		Weighted average exchange rate of U.S. dollars		Fair value
October – December, 2012		5,100,000		0.9855		5,108
January – March, 2013		6,000,000		1.0277		249,008
April – May, 2013		4,000,000		1.0385		201,548
Total	$	15,100,000		1.0163	$	455,664

The Company does not apply hedge accounting and, therefore, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012, the Company recorded a gain of $0.6 million and a gain of $0.8 million, respectively, on currency forward contracts in its consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011, the Company recorded a loss on currency forward exchange contracts of $1.8 million and $1.4 million, respectively.