Item 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

Interest Rate Risk

The primary objective of our investment activities is to preserve our capital for the purpose of funding operations while at the same time maximizing the income we receive from our investments without significantly increasing risk. To achieve these objectives, our investment policy allows us to maintain a portfolio of cash equivalents and short-term investments in a variety of securities, including money market funds, U.S. Treasury debt and corporate debt securities. Due to the short-term nature of our investments, we believe that we have no material exposure to interest rate risk.

Market Price Sensitive Instruments

In order to reduce potential equity dilution, in connection with the issuance of the 2023 Notes we entered into the 2023 Hedge which entitles us to purchase shares of our common stock. Upon conversion of the 2023 Notes, the 2023 Hedge is expected to reduce the equity dilution if the daily volume-weighted average price per share of our common stock exceeds the strike price of the hedge. We also entered into warrant transactions with the counterparties of the 2023 Hedge entitling them to acquire shares of our common stock. The warrant transactions could have a dilutive effect on our earnings per share to the extent that the price of our common stock during a given quarterly or annual measurement period exceeds the strike price of the warrants. See Note 5 to the financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report for more information.

Foreign Currency Exchange Risk

A substantial portion of our operations are located in the United States, and the majority of our sales since inception have been made in U.S. dollars. Accordingly, our assessment is that we have no material net exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations at this time. However, as our business in markets outside of the United States continues to increase, we will be exposed to foreign currency exchange risk related to our foreign operations. Fluctuations in the rate of exchange between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies, primarily the British Pound, the Euro, and the Canadian Dollar, could adversely affect our financial results, including our revenues, revenue growth rates, gross margins, income and losses as well as assets and liabilities.

We translate the financial statements of our foreign subsidiaries with functional currencies other than the U.S. dollar into the U.S. dollar for consolidation using end-of-period exchange rates for assets and liabilities and average exchange rates during each reporting period for results of operations. We record net gains or losses resulting from the translation of foreign financial statements and the effect of exchange rate changes on intercompany receivables and payables of a long-term nature as a separate component of stockholders’ equity. These adjustments will affect net income only upon sale or liquidation of the underlying investment in foreign subsidiaries.

We record exchange rate fluctuations resulting from the translation of the short-term intercompany balances between domestic entities and our foreign subsidiaries as foreign currency transaction gains or losses and include them in interest and other income (expense), net in our statement of operations. We enter into foreign currency forward contracts for certain intercompany balances in order to partially offset the impact from fluctuation of the foreign currency rates.

As of December 31, 2018, a notional amount of $60.0 million was outstanding to hedge currency risk relating to certain intercompany balances. Derivative instrument gains on forward exchange contracts were $0.4 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2018 and are included in interest and other income (expense), net in our statement of operations. The fair value of the forward contract exchange derivative instrument liability was $0.2 million as of December 31, 2018. We record derivative instruments in other current assets or other current liabilities in our balance sheets consistent with the nature of the instrument at period end. We entered into no foreign currency forward contracts during 2017 or 2016.

Notional principal amounts provide one measure of the transaction volume outstanding as of period end, but they do not represent the amount of our exposure to market loss. Estimates of fair value are based on applicable and commonly used pricing models using prevailing financial market information. The amounts ultimately realized upon settlement of these financial instruments, together with the gains and losses on the underlying exposures, will depend on actual market conditions during the remaining life of the instruments. We monitor and manage our financial exposures due to exchange rate fluctuations as an integral part of our overall risk management program, which recognizes the unpredictability of financial markets and seeks to reduce potentially adverse effects on our financial results.