The Funeral Director Daily Death Care Index (DCI) dropped roughly 2% for the month of January in contrast to the Dow Jones Industrial Average which recorded a 5.79% gain.  The DCI, a composite total of eight death care industry public stocks, stood at $290.78 at the close on January 31 in comparison to its mark of $296.15 coming into 2018.

There is no doubt. after observing death care industry stocks for sometime, that they do not move as an industry, but as individual companies or as segments of the death care industry that they represent.  For example, in the month of January, companies based on “to the consumer” funeral care services such as Service Corporation International, Carriage Services, and Park Lawn Corporation all saw positive advances in their stock prices whereas financially based death care services — mainly in the pre-need market, such as Security National Life and Assurant– saw declines in their corporate value.

Here is a listing of where the DCI stock prices stood on January 1 and January 31, 2018.

Company                                   January 1   January 31      +/-

Security National Life             $  5.25              $  4.40              (16.0%)

SCI                                                 $37.32             $ 39.97             + 7.1%

Hillenbrand                                $44.70             $ 44.30               0%

Matthews Intl.                            $52.80            $ 56.00            + 6.0%

Assurant                                       $100.84         $ 91.48              (9.0%)

StoneMor                                      $ 6.56            $  4.89              (25.0%)

Carriage Services                        $26.13           $26.63               +2.0%

Park Lawn Corporation            $22.85           $ 23.11                +1.0%

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