ARDELYX, INC. 10-Q

ITEM 3. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK Interest Rate Risk. We are subject to market risks, including interest rate fluctuation exposure through our investments, in the ordinary course of our business. However, the goals of our investment policy are the preservation of capital, fulfillment of liquidity needs and fiduciary control of cash. To achieve our goal of maximizing income without assuming significant market risk, we maintain our excess cash and cash equivalents in money market funds and short-term debt securities. Because of the short-term maturities of our cash equivalents, we do not believe that a decrease in interest rates would have any material negative impact on the fair value of our cash equivalents. As of September 30, 2020, we had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $185.5 million, which consist of bank deposits and money market funds, as well as high quality fixed income instruments including corporate bonds, commercial paper, and asset-backed securities collateralized by non-mortgage consumer receivables. The credit rating of our short-term investments must be rated A-1/P-1, or better by Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service. Asset-backed securities must be rated AAA/Aaa. Money Market funds must be rated AAAm/Aaa. Such interest-earning instruments carry a degree of interest rate risk. However, because our investments are high quality and short-term in duration, we believe that our exposure to interest rate risk is not significant and that a 10% movement in market interest 30 Table of Contents rates would not have a significant impact on the total value of our portfolio, as noted above. We do not enter into investments for trading or speculative purposes. We are subject to interest rate fluctuation exposure through our borrowings under the Loan Agreement and our investment in money market accounts which bear a variable interest rate. Borrowings under the Loan Agreement bear interest at a rate equal to one-month London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”), plus 7.45% per annum. A hypothetical increase in one-month LIBOR of 100 basis points above the current one-month LIBOR rates would have increased our interest expense by approximately $0.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. As of September 30, 2020, we had an aggregate principal amount of $50.7 million outstanding pursuant to our Loan Agreement. Foreign Currency Risk. The majority of our transactions are denominated in U.S. dollars. However, we do have certain transactions that are denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, primarily Swiss francs and the euro, and we therefore are subject to foreign exchange risk. The fluctuation in the value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies affects the reported amounts of expenses, assets and liabilities associated with a limited number of manufacturing activities. We do not use derivative financial instruments for speculative trading purposes, nor do we hedge foreign currency exchange rate exposure in a manner that entirely offsets the earnings effects of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. The counterparties to our forward foreign currency exchange contracts are creditworthy commercial banks, which minimizes the risk of counterparty nonperformance. As of September 30, 2020, we had no open forward foreign currency exchange contracts.