U.S. generally accepted accounting principles require Plan management to evaluate tax positions taken by the Plan and recognize a tax liability (or asset) if the Plan has undertaken an uncertain tax position that more likely than not would not be sustained upon examination by the IRS. The Plan administrator has analyzed the tax positions taken by the Plan, and has concluded that as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, there are no uncertain tax positions taken or expected to be taken that would require recognition of a liability (or asset) or disclosure in the financial statements.
5. Risks and Uncertainties
The Plan offers a number of investment options, including participant investments in Foot Locker Shares. Investment securities are exposed to various risks, such as interest rate, market, and credit risks. Due to the level of risk associated with certain investment securities, it is at least reasonably possible that changes in the values of investment securities will occur in the near term and that such changes could materially affect participants’ account balances and the amounts reported in the statements of net assets available for benefits.
The Plan’s exposure to a concentration of credit risk is limited by the diversification of investments across all participant-directed fund elections. Additionally, the investments within each participant-directed fund election are further diversified into varied financial instruments, with the exception of the Foot Locker Stock Fund, which invests in the securities of the Plan Sponsor. At December 31, 2019 and 2018, approximately 10% and 16%, respectively, of the Plan's net assets were invested in the common stock of the Plan Sponsor. The underlying value of the common stock is entirely dependent upon the performance of Foot Locker, Inc. and the market’s evaluation of such performance.
The Plan’s investments include commingled funds and mutual funds that may directly or indirectly invest in securities with contractual cash flows, such as asset backed securities, collateralized mortgage obligations and commercial mortgage backed securities, including securities backed by sub-prime mortgage loans. The value, liquidity, and related income of these securities, including the Foot Locker Stock Fund, is sensitive to changes in economic conditions, including real estate value, delinquencies or defaults, or both, and may be adversely affected by shifts in the market’s perception of the issuers and changes in interest rates.
6. Fair Value Measurements
The Plan categorizes its financial assets into a three-level fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value into three broad levels. The fair value hierarchy gives the highest priority to quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3). If the inputs used to measure fair value fall within different levels of the hierarchy, the category level is based on the lowest priority level input that is significant to the fair value measurement of the instrument. Fair value is determined based upon the exit price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants exclusive of any transaction costs.
The Plan’s financial assets recorded at fair value are categorized as follows:
Level 1 – Quoted prices for identical instruments in active markets.
Level 2 – Quoted inputs other than quoted prices included in Level 1, including quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets; quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and model-derived valuations in which all significant inputs or significant value-drivers are observable in active markets.
Level 3 – Model-derived valuations in which one or more significant inputs or significant value-drivers are unobservable.