Matthews International is a company that in 2025 received over 50% of its revenue from what they call their “Memorialization” segment.  That segment consists of Aurora Casket, Matthews cremation products, and a complete line of cemetery products and markers.  During the past calendar year Matthews International also acquired Death-care oriented Dodge Company to add to its group of operating companies in that segment.

It’s also fair to say that they are a company that has seen transformation in 2025.  Of their three operating units at the beginning of the year, we already told you that they acquired Dodge Company for the Memorialization segment, but they also divested or sold a second operating unit described as the SGK Branding unit, and have seen their Industrial Technologies segment caught up in a lawsuit which has probably diminished sales in that segment.

The results of all of that transformation during their fiscal year resulted in Revenues for the 2025 Fiscal Year which ended on September 30, 2025, coming in at $1.497 billion as compared to the prior fiscal year’s (2024) total Revenue of $1.795 billion — a drop of over 16%.  Of course, the SGK unit did not operate all year, however, Memorialization and Industrial Technology segments also had lower Revenues in FY25 than they did in FY24.

Specific to the Memorialization segment, which we are most interested in, Revenues for FY25 came in at $809.5 million for the year as compared to $829.7 million in FY24 — a drop of about 2.5%.  One positive sign we noticed was that for the company’s 4th Quarter (July, August, and September) Memorialization segment Revenues came in at $209.6 million as compared to FY24’s 4th Quarter of $196.8 million — showing growth of 6.5%.  However, in relation to that increase, we must remember that Matthews International had the Dodge Company product revenue in 4Q25 and not in 4Q24.

Here are some prepared comments from Matthews International CEO and President Joseph C. Bartolacci in the press release (that you can access here) that relate to the Memorializion segment:

“I am pleased to report that we had a strong finish to fiscal 2025 as our consolidated results were ahead of our initial expectations for the fiscal 2025 fourth quarter.  Sales for the Memorialization segment and warehouse automation business outperformed their levels from the same quarter a year ago, and we continued to lower our corporate and other non-operating costs.  Please note that the divestiture of the SGK business was a significant factor in the year-over-year comparability of the Company’s financial results.”

“The Memorialization segment reported higher sales for the current quarter compared to a year ago, primarily reflecting the benefit of its recent acquisition of The Dodge Company.  Higher sales volumes for bronze memorials and inflationary price realization also contributed to the sales increase for the quarter.”

“For fiscal 2026, we expect continued growth in the Memorialization segment, particularly with the full year contribution from the acquisition of The Dodge Company.”

 

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  Matthews International has been in business for 175 years so the time that they are taking in re-positioning who they are is a small time in that space.  However, for those of us that follow the stock, the re-positioning and strategic moves that coincide with that effort seem to be taking an eternity.

From my point of view the company in Fiscal Year 2025 derived about 54% of its revenues from the Memorialization segment, and with the SGK segment going away, you would think that percentage would increase next year unless the Industrial Technology segment grows rapidly — which they are waiting for.

However, I sometimes wonder if the company is missing the boat by not being more aggressive in the rapidly expanding technology segment of Death Care.  Much of their Memorialization segment revenue comes from “old, historic” Death Care revenue streams such as caskets and monuments.  I think in addition to those streams, a couple of new, faster growing, Death Care revenue streams – such as technology companies might bring – would fit this company very well.

Oh well. . . that is just my opinion.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

It’s been pretty easy to recognize that the management team that replaced founder and long-time CEO Melvin Payne at Carriage Services has been building the foundations of the business in order to begin once again making acquisitions for growth.  That has probably been a necessary strategy but it also was noted by some investors that if they wanted to grow, then they would have to get back into the acquisition mode soon.

Well. . . .those investors should be happy now as earlier this week Carriage Services announced that they had made an acquisition of one of the larger Death Care operators in Central Florida.  In this press release Carriage Services broke the news that they would be acquiring the assets of a group of providers I’ll refer to as the “Osceola” group.

The press release describes that group of businesses as such: “a combination business with a funeral home located on a cemetery, five stand-alone funeral homes, a crematory and central care center, and a cremation focused business, located in the growing Orlando, Florida metro market.” 

Steve Metzger, President of Carriage Services had this prepared remark about those businesses from the press release, “Osceola is a truly unique collection of businesses with an incredible team. . . . . we look forward to growing with the Osceola team in the years ahead.”

And, in a statement that seems somewhat directed at those that thought Carriage Services might be waiting too long to start in acquisition mode again, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Carriage Services Carlos Quezada made this comment, “We are thrilled to reengage in acquisitions as part of our long-term growth strategy. This milestone marks the first step toward realizing our 2030 Vision and reinforces our commitment to purposeful growth.”

Related —  Here is the website for Osceola Memory Gardens, a part of the recent acquisition.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I’ve been waiting for Carriage Services to make an announcement on an acquisition.  However, I have no issue with the timing and process of, seemingly, getting the ship in prime sailing form before setting out from the dock.  I believe that the management team at Carriage Services is being very methodical and strategic as they go about setting the right foundation not only with business sizing, but with their preneed decisions and their preferred vendors as well.

In business, I’ve always thought that a long-term strategy and the ability to follow that strategy is better than taking a swing at every pitch that comes one’s way.  And, it is my opinion that is the direction that this management team is taking.

Disclosure —  The author of this article for Funeral Director Daily is a shareholder in Carriage Services.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

An article was authored by Seeking Alpha contributor Daniel Jones last week about the largest funeral home and cemetery operator in North America — Service Corporation International (SCI).  As our headline mentions, the title of the article, that you can access here, is “SCI:  A stock to take to the grave”.

Jones uses some information and images from SCI’s 1st Quarter presentation, which you can see here, in giving his analysis and opinion.

As with almost all of the articles from another source that give stock information and suggestions, we will quote some of the thoughts from the article but leave the personal opinions of Funeral Director Daily out of the equation.

Here are some of the quotes Jones uses in making his decisions on SCI:

• “Service Corporation International remains a ‘buy’ due to its industry leadership, stable growth, and strong long-term demographic tailwinds.”
• “The company’s asset clustering strategy and fragmented market offer significant acquisition and cost-saving opportunities for continued expansion.”
• Transition to insurance-funded pre-need contracts should improve margins and sales growth, with management guiding for stronger performance in 2026.”
• Since I (Seeking Alpha author Jones) last wrote about the company in January of this year, in an article in which I reaffirmed the business as a ‘buy’ candidate, the stock is up only 3.8% compared to the 4.3% rise that the S&P 500 has enjoyed. But since I originally rated it a ‘buy’ over nine years ago in April 2016, the stock is up an astounding 248.4%. That comfortably outpaces the 188% rise enjoyed by the S&P 500 over the same window of time. 

A couple of different graphics are shared in the report from the SCI 1st Quarter presentation.  Those graphics make these statements:

• “SCI has 1,985 total locations in North America as of March 31, 2025

• “SCI has a 17% market share in North America with other consolidators listed as 9% in total, and independents have a 74% market share.”

Disclaimer — The author of this article for Funeral Director Daily is a stockholder of Service Corporation International

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

Today is December 2 and we are into the last month of 2024.  If you are involved in investments — and virtually everybody in this day and age of 401k’s, IRA’s, 529 Plans, and the like is – you have to admit it’s been a pretty good year.  And finally, it has even been a good year for the Funeral Director Daily Death Care Index (DCI).

The Funeral Director Daily DCI was started a few years ago to measure the direction of the aggregate Death Care public stock price sentiment.  Very seldom over that time has its numbers kept up with the broader based indexes, but at least for the first 11 months of 2024 it is doing just that.  Up until 2024 it has appeared that the investing public was not as confident in Death Care companies as they were in the overall broad-based market businesses.

That seems to have changed for 2024 though as stock price appreciation in public Death Care companies kept up with the marked indexes in general.

To be sure, the DCI is not scientific, not price weighted, and offers a very small sample size of companies but does give a general direction of what has happened in the overall Death Care stock market picture.  Over the years, the sample size of the DCI has dwindled as a full 1/2 of the original companies have moved out of the public market for one reason or another.

The Funeral Director Daily DCI price is comprised of owning one share of stock in each of the following four public companies who has at least a part of their business touch the Death Care space:  Service Corporation International, Carriage Services, Security National Financial Corporation, and Matthews International.

As of the close of business on Friday, November 29, 2024, the composite DCI price stood at $172.38 as compared to the closing price to close out 2023 of $138.68.   That’s an increase of 24.3%

When you compare that price to the same numbers for the broader indexes of the stock market, here’s how it compares:

• Death Care Index:  +24.3%
• Dow Jones Industrials:  +18.24%
• NASDAQ:  +28.0%
• S&P 500:  +25.2%

And, here’s the fate of each individual company stock that make up the DCI on a Year-to-Date basis:

The Shrinking members of the DCI — When the DCI was founded by Funeral Director Daily it contained eight public stock members.  Four of those companies, or the Death Care portions of those public companies are no longer in the public realm.  Here’s what happened to each of those companies accompanied by an article on each situation:

Disclaimer-— The author of this article for Funeral Director Daily holds stock positions in Service Corporation International, Carriage Services, and Security National Financial Corporation.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

It was a fairly uncommon occurence on October 30 when the two largest public funeral home and cemetery operating companies reported their 3rd Quarter results on the same day.  Both companies, Service Corporation International (SCI) and Carriage Services, reported “after the financial markets closed’ that day.  So, the first trading that could be done post-reports was Thursday, October 31.

It was obvious that shareholders and market watchers liked what they heard from SCI and Carriage Services because both companies stock price began increasing.  It was also interesting that after the Presidential election on Tuesday stocks, in general, had an advance through Friday’s closing.

Funeral Director Daily will not give any commentary on this issue but will provide some links where you may find more information on these companies at the bottom of this article for your use.

Here is how the stock price performed during those eight days between October 30 and November 8 for both SCI and Carriage Services:

Service Corporation International

• Stock Price as of closing on October 30:  $78.50 / share
• Stock Price as of closing on November 8:  $86.99 / share
• Percentage Increase:  +10.8%

Carriage Services

• Stock Price as of closing on October 30:  $32.65
• Stock Price as of closing on November 8:  $39.39
• Percentage Increase:  +20.6%

For comparison purposes, here are the closing prices of the Dow Jones 30 and the NASDAQ 100 for the period since the Presidential election:

Dow Jones 30:

• Stock Index as of closing on Monday, November 4:  41,794
• Stock Index as of closing on Friday, November 8:  43,988
• Stock Index Percentage Increase:  +5.2%

NASDAQ 100

• Stock Index as of closing on Monday, November 4:  19,963
• Stock Index as of closing on Friday, November 8:  21,117
• Stock Index Percentage Increase:  +8.8%

Related Articles:

Disclaimer:  The author of this article for Funeral Director Daily holds stock positions in both Service Corporation International and Carriage Services.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

Park Lawn Corporation (PLC), a publicly-held funeral home and cemetery operator reported their 2023 4th Quarter and 2023 Full-Year financial results last week.  In those results, which you can see here, the company reported revenues for both the 4th Quarter and Full-Year of 2023 increasing from the comparable quarter and year.  They did, however, report a Net Loss for both both time periods, explained by the completion of the sale of 83 properties to Everstory Partners which happened in December 2023.

You can read a Funeral Director Daily story about that event here.

In a prepared statement in the Park Lawn Corporation press release PLC Chief Executive Officer J. Bradley Green explained that Net Loss this way:

• “Net (Loss) Earnings for the quarter and year ended 2023 reflect a loss as a result of the disposition of certain legacy businesses completed in December.  However, Adjusted Net Earnings for the three-month period ended December 31, 2023 increased by approximately 5.3% while decreasing by 10.1% over the comparable prior year, principally as a result of the normalization of the death rate. “

A positive attribute of that Everstory transaction was also explained by CEO Green in this manner:

• “At closing, Park Lawn received $70M consisting of $55M in cash and the remaining in deferred compensation, bearing interest at 10% per annum, to be received by PLC within 5 years following the close of the transaction.  The cash proceeds were used to pay down debt resulting in a reduction of Park Lawn’s leverage ratio to  1.95x and 2.75x, including Park Lawn’s outstanding debentures.”

CEO Green also commented on what the divestiture of those 83 properties would do the the company’s previously disclosed aspirational plans:

• “Given the recent completion of the transformational disposition of certain legacy businesses at the end of December, as well as the current macroeconomic environment, we no longer believe that our previously announced five-year long-term aspirational financial targets are achievable by the conclusion of 2026. . . Rather than long-term targets, in an effort to enhance the insight and disclosure around our operating performance, we believe annual guidance will provide improved near-term transparency of our financial expectations and strategic direction to our investors, shareholders and stakeholders.”

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  Now that we have seen the Full-Year reports for the “Big 3” public funeral home and cemetery operators it is interesting to try to decipher their individual ambitions and plans for moving forward.  It appears to me that the last couple of years have been about “Right-sizing” the ships following what was learned in the pandemic.  I think each of those companies — Park Lawn, Carriage Services, and Service Corporation International — have plans on where they hope to bring their companies and each has a definite path that they want to follow to continue to build out the operations.

Once the Service Corporation International moratorium on selected acquisitions (see Funeral Director Daily article here) is lifted, I think we will get a pretty good idea of where those destinations are.

In the meantime, here’s a little chart I put together on the Revenue increases for each of those companies for the 2023 4th Quarter and the 2023 Full-Year.  The percentage listed is the company’s revenue over the same periods in 2022:

And here is the total revenues as reported by each of the companies for the Full-Year 2023.  You can see, in round numbers, the extreme size of SCI as they continue to have annual revenue of more than 10 times the other companies.

2023 Reported Annual Revenue

• Service Corporation International                  $ 4.09 billion
• Carriage Services                                               $  382.5 million
• Park Lawn Corporation                                    $  347.6 million

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”