Financing Activities
Net cash used in financing activities for the first nine months of 2018 was $14.5 million, as compared to $6.9 million of net cash provided by financing activities for the comparable period of 2017. The decrease is due to the use of cash for share repurchases and less proceeds received from the exercise of stock-based awards, both as set forth below.
In August 2008, we announced that our board of directors approved a share repurchase program for up to one million shares of common stock which was further extended collectively by an additional five million shares in 2010, 2013 and 2014. In May 2018, our board of directors authorized the repurchase of an additional 700,000 shares of common stock pursuant to Rule10b-18 of the Exchange Act. During the first nine months of 2018, we repurchased 527,212 shares of common stock pursuant to our share repurchase program, at an average purchase price of $31.76 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $16.7 million. We did not repurchase any shares of common stock during the first nine months of 2017. As of September 30, 2018, we have 483,844 shares available for repurchase.
During the first nine months of 2018, we received $2.2 million from the exercise of stock-based awards, as compared to $6.9 million received for the comparable period of 2017.
We believe that our cash and cash equivalents, short-term bank deposits and marketable securities, along with cash from operations, will provide sufficient capital to fund our operations for at least the next 12 months. We cannot provide assurances, however, that the underlying assumed levels of revenues and expenses will prove to be accurate.
In addition, as part of our business strategy, we occasionally evaluate potential acquisitions of businesses, products and technologies and minority equity investments. Accordingly, a portion of our available cash may be used at any time for the acquisition of complementary products or businesses or minority equity investments. Such potential transactions may require substantial capital resources, which may require us to seek additional debt or equity financing. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully identify suitable acquisition or investment candidates, complete acquisitions or investments, integrate acquired businesses into our current operations, or expand into new markets. Furthermore, we cannot provide assurances that additional financing will be available to us in any required time frame and on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. See “Risk Factors—We may seek to expand our business in ways that could result in diversion of resources and extra expenses.” for more detailed information.
Item 3. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
A majority of our revenues and a portion of our expenses are transacted in U.S. dollars and our assets and liabilities together with our cash holdings are predominately denominated in U.S. dollars. However, the majority of our expenses are denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, principally the NIS and the Euro. Increases in volatility of the exchange rates of currencies other than the U.S. dollar versus the U.S. dollar could have an adverse effect on the expenses and liabilities that we incur when remeasured into U.S. dollars. We review our monthly expectednon-U.S. dollar denominated expenditures and look to hold equivalentnon-U.S. dollar cash balances to mitigate currency fluctuations. This has resulted in a foreign exchange loss of $88,000 and $199,000 for the third quarter and first nine months of 2018, respectively, and a foreign exchange gain of $32,000 and a foreign exchange loss of $53,000 for the comparable periods of 2017.
As a result of currency fluctuations and the remeasurement ofnon-U.S. dollar denominated expenditures to U.S. dollars for financial reporting purposes, we may experience fluctuations in our operating results on an annual and quarterly basis. To protect against the increase in value of forecasted foreign currency cash flow resulting from salaries paid in currencies other than the U.S. dollar during the year, we follow a foreign currency cash flow hedging program. We hedge portions of the anticipated payroll for ournon-U.S. employees denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar for a period of one to twelve months with forward and option contracts. During the third quarter and first nine months of 2018, we recorded accumulated other comprehensive gain of $75,000 and $0, respectively, from our forward and option contracts, net of taxes, with respect to anticipated payroll expenses for ournon-U.S. employees. During the third quarter and first nine months of 2017, we recorded accumulated other comprehensive loss of $0 and $5,000, respectively, from our forward and option contracts, net of taxes, with respect to anticipated payroll expenses for ournon-U.S. employees. As of September 30, 2018, we had no other comprehensive gain/ (loss) from our forward and option contracts. We recognized a net loss of $63,000 and $259,000 for the third quarter and first nine months of 2018, respectively, and a net loss of $2,000 and a net gain of $186,000 for the comparable periods of 2017, related to forward and options contracts. We note that hedging transactions may not successfully mitigate losses caused by currency fluctuations. We expect to continue to experience the effect of exchange rate and currency fluctuations on an annual and quarterly basis.
The majority of our cash and cash equivalents are invested in high grade certificates of deposits with major U.S., European and Israeli banks. Generally, cash and cash equivalents and bank deposits may be redeemed and therefore minimal credit risk exists with respect to them. Nonetheless, deposits with these banks exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) insurance limits or similar limits in foreign jurisdictions, to the extent such deposits are even insured in such foreign jurisdictions. While we monitor on a systematic basis the cash and cash equivalent balances in the operating accounts and adjust the balances as appropriate, these balances could be impacted if one or more of the financial institutions with which we deposit our funds fails or is subject to other adverse conditions in the financial or credit markets. To date, we have experienced no loss of principal or lack of access to our invested cash or cash equivalents; however, we can provide no assurance that access to our invested cash and cash equivalents will not be affected if the financial institutions that we hold our cash and cash equivalents fail.
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