Suffice it to say that if you are in a C-Suite office at Matthews International you probably have a lot on your plate right now.  Amidst other items that we will report on later including a large shareholder’s discontent leading to Board member nominations, the sale process of the SGK Brand segment, and an on-going dispute with Tesla in the company’s Industrial Technologoy segment the company reported their Fiscal Year 2025 1st Quarter report last Thursday.

In general, total sales for Matthews International dropped 10.7% in comparison to the 1st Quarter of Fiscal Year 2024.  According to the press release of the company’s 1st Quarter, which you can access here, total sales for 1Q2025 came in at $401.8 million as compared $450.0 million in 1Q2024 — that’s a dollar volume drop of $48.2 million.

The company’s Memorialization segment registered sales of $190.5 million for the 1st Quarter of 2025 as compared to recorded sales of $208.1 million for the same period of FY2024 — a drop of about 8.5% for the segment.  It should also be noted that Matthews International operates on a Fiscal Year calendar in which their first quarter reports results of October thru December 2024.

The company was able to hold up their Memorialization segment EBITDA for 1Q25 as they registered an EBITDA of $36.6 million on those sales of $190.5 million which is a better percentage (19.2%) than that of 1Q2024 where they recorded an EBITDA of $36.7 million (17.6%) on Memorialization segment sales of $208.1 million.

In prepared statements in the press release about the Memorialization segment Matthews International CEO Joseph Bartolacci made these comments, “Adjusted EBITDA for the Memorialization segment was relatively unchanged compared to the first quarter last year. The segment reported lower sales compared to last year primarily reflecting the impact of lower U.S. deaths and the prior year included sales in connection with a reduction in backlog of granite memorials. However, the impact of these declines on adjusted EBITDA for the current quarter was mitigated by the benefits from ongoing productivity and cost reduction initiatives and improved price realization.”

Other company news from Matthews International:

February 6 — “Matthews International announces positive ruling in arbitration with Tesla”.  Press Release

February 3 — “Matthews highlights significant shareholder support and underscores Board’s commitment to Long-term value creation.”  Press Release

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In the last calendar year – dating back to October 16, 2023 – Matthews International stock, the parent company of Aurora Casket and Matthews Environmental Solutions (cremation), has dropped over 44% in a world, by contrast, where the Dow Jones Industrials have risen over 25% for the same dates.

A recent (October 6, 2024) article in Seeking Alpha titled “Matthews International: Lawsuit risks loom, but inflection point could be near”, gives an argument to the thought that the worst of the stock price drop may be behind the company.  Funeral Director Daily will give some quotes from the article and then let you read the article here and decide for yourself on the status of the company.

You may or may not know that Matthews International is a consolidated company with three distinct segments — Industrial Tehnologies, Memorialization, and SGK Brand Solutions.  As you can understand, most of our readers are interested in the Memorialization Segment.

Here’s a few quotes from the Seeking Alpha article authors:

• “Matthews International faces challenges due to an outstanding Tesla lawsuit casting a pall, but historically low stock levels present a potential buying opportunity as operating metrics may improve.”

• “The company’s memorialization business shows promise with expected Q4 improvements, lapping declining death rates and tough comparisons.”

• “Industrial technology struggles with stalled EV battery equipment orders . . . “

• “Cost-saving measures and strategic acquisitions aim to improve profitability. . .” 

• “Matthews International  is a stock we’ve covered for some time now. We’ve had successes with it, but the latest run for the stock has been difficult. The major news has been a Tesla  lawsuit against Matthews, looking for an injunction against the company to stop it from monetizing allegedly stolen “trade secrets” that hadn’t been specified.”

• “Memorialization is a cash cow, and with significant declines in the stock, we are beginning to get to prices where that cash cow will be downside protection.”

• “We also believe there is scope for improvements once again in industrial technology between the new product launch and the outstanding orders.”

Related Article — Matthews International completes Senior Notes offering.  PR Newswire

Here is the website for Matthews International

Here is the website for the Matthews International Memorialization Segment

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