Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

v3.20.1
STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Share-based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]  
STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION
STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

On June 11, 2019, the Company's stockholders approved an amendment to the CV Sciences, Inc. Amended and Restated 2013 Equity Incentive Plan (the "2013 Plan"). The Amended 2013 Plan provides for the granting of stock options, restricted stock awards, restricted stock units, stock bonus awards and performance-based awards. This plan serves as the successor to the 2013 Equity Incentive Plan. There were no option awards under the 2013 Equity Incentive Plan prior to it being amended and restated.
The amendment was to increase the number of shares that may be issued under the 2013 Plan by an additional 3,000,000 shares. The Company’s stockholders also approved to add an automatic “evergreen” provision regarding the number of shares to be annually added to the 2013 Plan. As a result, the number of shares of common stock that will be automatically added to the 2013 Plan on January 1 of each year during the term of the plan, starting with January 1, 2020, will be the lesser of: (a) 4% of the total shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding on December 31st of the prior year, (b) 4,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, or (c) a lesser number of shares of the Company’s common stock as determined by the Company’s Board of Directors. There are currently 34,976,000 shares authorized for issuance under the 2013 Plan. As of December 31, 2019, the Company had 8,863,000 authorized unissued shares reserved and available for issuance upon exercise and conversion of outstanding awards under the Amended 2013 Plan.
The stock options are exercisable at no less than the fair market value of the underlying shares on the date of grant, and restricted stock and restricted stock units are issued at a value not less than the fair market value of the common stock on the date of the grant. Generally, stock options awarded are vested in equal increments ranging from two to four years on the annual anniversary date on which such equity grants were awarded. The stock options generally have a maximum term of 10 years.
The Company recognized stock-based compensation expense of $15.1 million and $2.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company's former President and Chief Executive Officer, Mona Jr., and the Company entered into a Settlement Agreement (the “Settlement Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company agreed that Mona Jr.’s resignation from the Company on January 22, 2019 was for Good Reason (as defined in Mona Jr.’s Employment Agreement) and agreed to extend the deadline for Mona Jr.’s exercise of his stock options for a period of five years. In exchange, Mona Jr. agreed that notwithstanding the terms of his Employment Agreement providing for acceleration of vesting of all stock options and restricted stock units (RSU's) upon a Good Reason resignation, certain of his unvested stock options would not immediately vest, but rather continue to vest if, and only if, certain Company milestones are achieved related to the Company’s drug development efforts. These stock options were issued in July 2016 (6,000,000 options) and March 2017 (5,000,000 options). The Company and Mona Jr. also agreed to mutually release all claims arising out of and related to Mona Jr.’s resignation and separation from the Company. As a result of the Settlement Agreement, the Company recorded stock-based compensation expense related to the accelerated vesting of the RSU's of $5.1 million and the modification of certain stock options of $2.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2019. In addition, on December 31, 2019, the Company's former Chief Operating Officer and co-founder ("Mona III") resigned from the Company. The Company recorded stock-based compensation expense related to the accelerated vesting of Mona III's unvested outstanding options of $1.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 with no assumed forfeiture rate.
As of December 31, 2019, total unrecognized compensation cost related to non-vested stock-based compensation arrangements was $4.8 million which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.1 years.
The following summarizes activity related to the Company's stock options and includes 10,000,000 options issued prior to December 31, 2018 outside of the Amended 2013 Plan (in thousands, except per share data):
 
Number of Shares
 
Weighted Average
Exercise Price
 
Weighted Average
Remaining Contract
Term (in years)
 
Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Outstanding - December 31, 2018
24,775

 
$
0.51

 
7.5

 
$
94,206

Granted
5,415

 
2.07

 

 

Exercised
(1,534
)
 
0.39

 

 

Forfeited
(551
)
 
1.62

 

 

Expired

 

 

 

Outstanding - December 31, 2019
28,105

 
0.80

 
5.4

 
12,335

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Exercisable - December 31, 2019
25,729

 
0.57

 
5.1

 
13,605

Vested or expected to vest - December 31, 2019
28,105

 
$
0.80

 
5.4

 
$
12,335


The total intrinsic value of stock options exercised during the year ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 was $4.3 million and $5.9 million, respectively.
The Company has established performance milestones in connection with the drug development efforts for its lead drug candidate CVSI-007. As of December 31, 2019, there were 8,000,000 remaining unvested stock options granted outside of the 2013 Plan which vest upon the completion of future performance conditions, including those related to the Settlement Agreement with Mona Jr.
The following table presents the weighted average grant date fair value of stock options granted and the weighted-average assumptions used to estimate the fair value on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes valuation model:
 
For the years ended December 31,
 
2019
 
2018
Volatility
126.1%
 
90.1%
Risk-Free Interest Rate
1.6%
 
2.6%
Expected Term (in years)
2.74
 
5.44
Dividend Rate
0.0%
 
0.0%
Fair Value Per Share on Grant Date
$1.92
 
$0.72
The risk-free interest rates are based on the implied yield available on U.S. Treasury constant maturities with remaining terms equivalent to the respective expected terms of the options. The Company estimates the expected term for stock options awarded to employees, non-employees, officers and directors using the simplified method in accordance with ASC Topic 718, Stock Compensation, because the Company does not have sufficient relevant historical information to develop reasonable expectations about future exercise patterns. Through September 30, 2019, the Company determined expected volatility based on the Company’s peer group, consisting of five companies in the industry in which the Company does business because the Company did not have sufficient historical volatility data. Starting on October 1, 2019, the Company had sufficient historical volatility data, and used its own volatility. In the future, as the Company gains historical data for the actual term over which stock options are held, the expected term may change, which could substantially change the grant-date fair value of future stock option awards, and, consequently, compensation of future grants.
The following summarizes RSU activity that contain only service requirements to vest for the Amended 2013 Plan (in thousands, except per share data):
 
Number of Shares
 
Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
RSU's outstanding - December 31, 2018
2,950

 
$
2.14

Granted

 

Vested
(2,950
)
 
2.14

Cancellations

 

RSU's outstanding - December 31, 2019

 
$

The total fair value of RSU's vested during the year ended December 31, 2019 was $6.3 million.
During the year ended December 31, 2018, warrants to purchase 2,850,000 were exercised on a net issuance basis, resulting in the issuance of 2,713,000 shares of common stock.