Note 6 - Employee Stock Benefit Plans |
6 Months Ended | ||
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Jun. 27, 2026 | |||
| Notes to Financial Statements | |||
| Share-Based Payment Arrangement [Text Block] |
On May 15, 2026, our stockholders approved the Cohu, Inc. 2026 Equity Incentive Plan (“2026 Plan”). The 2026 Plan replaced the Cohu, Inc. 2005 Equity Incentive Plan (“2005 Plan”), under which no further awards may be granted. Outstanding awards under the 2005 Plan remain in effect under their original terms, and any shares that return to the share reserve through forfeiture, expiration, or cash settlement become available for issuance under the 2026 Plan. The initial number of common shares that are reserved for issuance pursuant to equity awards granted under the 2026 Plan shall not exceed 3.4 million plus any Returning Shares (as defined in the 2026 Plan). On May 15, 2026, our stockholders also approved an amendment to our 1997 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”), which increased the number of ESPP shares that may be issued by 600,000.
Our 2026 Plan and our ESPP are broad-based, long-term retention programs intended to attract, motivate, and retain talented employees as well as align stockholder and employee interests. Awards that may be granted under the 2026 Plan include, but are not limited to, non-qualified and incentive stock options, restricted stock units, and performance stock units. We settle employee stock option exercises, employee stock purchase plan purchases, and the vesting of restricted stock units and performance stock units with newly issued common shares. On June 27, 2026, there were 3,430,546 shares available for future equity grants under the 2026 Plan and 864,359 shares available for purchase under the ESPP.
Stock Options
Stock options may be granted to employees, consultants and non-employee directors to purchase a fixed number of shares of our common stock. The exercise prices of options granted are at least equal to the fair market value of our common stock on the dates of grant and options vest and become exercisable in annual increments that range from to years from the date of grant. Stock options granted under the 2026 Plan have a maximum contractual term of years. In the first six months of fiscal 2026, we did grant any stock options and as of June 27, 2026, stock options were outstanding.
Restricted Stock Units
We grant restricted stock units (“RSUs”) to certain employees, consultants and directors. RSUs vest in annual increments that range from to years from the date of grant. Prior to vesting, RSUs do not have dividend equivalent rights, do not have voting rights and the shares underlying the RSUs are not considered issued and outstanding. Shares of our common stock or treasury shares will be issued on the date the RSUs vest net of the minimum statutory tax withholding requirements to be paid by us on behalf of our employees. As a result, the actual number of shares issued will be fewer than the number of RSUs outstanding on June 27, 2026.
In the first six months of fiscal 2026, we awarded 521,997 RSUs and issued 594,191 shares of our common stock on vesting of previously granted awards and 83,524 RSUs were forfeited. On June 27, 2026, we had 1,184,430 RSUs outstanding with an aggregate intrinsic value of approximately $75.9 million and the weighted average remaining vesting period was approximately 1.3 years.
Performance Stock Units
We grant performance stock units (“PSUs”) to certain senior executives as a part of our long-term equity compensation program. The number of shares of common stock that will ultimately be issued to settle PSUs granted ranges from 0% to 200% of the number granted and is determined based on certain performance criteria over a three-year measurement period. The performance criteria for the PSUs are based on a combination of our annualized Total Shareholder Return (“TSR”) for the performance period and, for PSUs granted to senior executives in 2024 and 2025, the relative performance of our TSR compared with the Russell 2000 Index (RUT) for the performance period, and for PSUs granted to senior executives in 2026, the percentile performance of our TSR within the members of the RUT as of the first day of the performance period. Granted PSUs will vest 100% on the third anniversary of their grant, assuming achievement of the applicable performance criteria.
We estimate the fair value of the PSUs using a Monte Carlo simulation model on the date of grant. Compensation expense is recognized over the requisite service period. To the extent applicable performance conditions are satisfied, shares of our common stock or treasury shares are issued on the date the PSUs vest net of the minimum statutory tax withholding requirements to be paid by us on behalf of our employees. As a result, the actual number of shares issued will be fewer than the actual number of PSUs outstanding on June 27, 2026.
In the first six months of fiscal 2026, we awarded 252,209 PSUs, we issued 10,135 shares of our common stock on vesting of previously granted awards and 190,802 awarded shares were forfeited. On June 27, 2026, we had 798,111 PSUs outstanding with an aggregate intrinsic value of approximately $51.1 million and the weighted average remaining vesting period was approximately 1.5 years.
Employee Stock Purchase Plan
The ESPP provides for the issuance of shares of our common stock. Under the ESPP, eligible employees may purchase shares of Cohu common stock through payroll deductions at a price equal to 85 percent of the lower of the fair market value of Cohu common stock at the beginning or end of each 6-month purchase offering period, subject to certain limits. The two offering periods run from November 1 through April 30 and May 1 through October 31, respectively. During the first six months of fiscal 2026, 89,222 shares of our common stock were sold to our employees under the ESPP.
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