Note 16. Stock-Based Compensation

Pursuant to the Concrete Pumping Holdings, Inc. 2018 Omnibus Incentive Plan, the Company granted stock-based awards to certain employees in the U.S. and U.K. All awards in the U.S. are restricted stock awards while awards granted to employees in the U.K. are stock options with exercise prices of $0.01. Regardless of where the awards were granted, the awards generally vest pursuant to one of the following four conditions:

Included in the table below is a summary of the unvested awards outstanding at October 31, 2022, including the location, type of award, shares outstanding, unrecognized compensation expense, and the date through which the expense will be recognized. The total stock compensation expense recognized for restricted stock awards for the years ended  October 31, 2022 and October 31, 2021 was $4.4 million and $5.8 million, respectively. The total stock compensation expense recognized for stock options for the years ended  October 31, 2022 and October 31, 2021 was $0.6 million and $0.8 million, respectively. In addition, while the table below provides a date through which expense will be recognized on a straight-line basis, if at such time the market-based stock awards vest earlier than the Monte Carlo simulation derived service period, expense recognition will be accelerated.

During the first quarter of fiscal 2022, the Company granted 69,491 stock awards that have a market-based vesting condition. The assumptions used in the Monte Carlo Simulation for these grants were stock price on date of grant, a price target expiration date of December 6, 2023, expected volatility of 73% and a risk-free interest rate of 0.5%. No equity-based awards were granted during the remainder of fiscal 2022.

(in thousands, except shares outstanding and fair value amounts)

Note: The $13/$16/$19 Market/Time Based shares noted above relate to the shares not exchanged in the October 29, 2020 modification discussed above.

Stock Options 

The following tables summarize stock option activity for the year ended October 31, 2022:

The total intrinsic value of stock options exercised for the years ended  October 31, 2022 and 2021 was $1.3 million and $0.9 million, respectively. The Company realized $0.2 million in tax benefits related to exercised stock options for both years ended October 31, 2022 and 2021.

The following table summarizes information about stock options outstanding at October 31, 2022:

As of October 31, 2022, there was $0.6 million of total unrecognized compensation cost related to stock options that is expected to be realized as an expense by the Company over 1.4 weighted average years.

Restricted Stock Awards

The following table is a summary of Restricted Stock Awards activity for the years ended October 31, 2022 and October 31, 2021:

As of October 31, 2022, there was $4.6 million of unrecognized compensation expense related to non-vested restricted stock awards that is expected to be realized as an expense by the Company over 1.4 weighted average years.

The Company realized $1.4 million and $0.7 million in tax benefits related to restricted stock award vestings for the years ended October 31, 2022 and October 31, 2021, respectively.