Security National Financial Corporation, Matthews lead DCI thru first-half of 2026

July 6, 2026/Finance/

Back in this article of April 2, 2026, we called Death Care stocks a “Port in the Storm”. As that article indicates, Death Care stocks as represented by the Death Care Index (DCI) showed a gain of 5.2% for the 1st Quarter of 2026 even as the major indexes all had declines for the 1st Quarter. Part of my “take” on that situation was that maybe Death Care is finally being seen not as “growth” stocks but as “defensive” stocks in an uncertain economy.

I still think that may be one way that certain investors look at Death Care — especially if they look at the business with an attitude of “deaths will always continue.”

However, if you have been in the business as long as I have you know that it is not that simple. Consumer Death Care public companies are affected by inflation, ticket price choice by consumers as trends move to more cremation, and all kinds of other factors, including the rising cost of personnel.

Those issues can lead to funeral home and cemetery company margins eroding and I think that may be one reason that the stock prices of Security National Financial Corporation and Matthews International have seen the most rise in value among the DCI stocks, percentage wise, over the first half of 2026. Both of those companies have going-concern business components to them outside, or in addition to consumer and cemetery businesses.

When one looks at the DCI for the first-half of 2026 one sees that Security National Financial Corporation (SNFCA) has led the pack of Death Care companies with a gain of 7.50% since January 1. Matthews International is behind them with a value increase of 3.10%.

The two companies, Service Corporation International and Carriage Services, that deal in great part with consumer funeral and cremation care and operate cemeteries, both start the second-half of 2026 with less value, stock price-wise, than they had on January 1. I think part of the reasoning for that is the impression by investors that continued growing consumer choice of cremation coupled with inflationary pressures are causing erosion of margins in those consumer-facing Death Care business models.

The Death Care Index, as a whole, has dropped in value 2.90% since January 1. The table below shows that data as well as data from the major indexes for the January 1, 2026, through June 30, 2026, time period

It could have been worse:

I came across this article the other day while researching for this article. It’s an interesting article that shows the “in-favor, out-favor” selections of investors. While we know that semiconductors have had incredible value increases in the advent of the artificial intelligence wave, some of the stocks we have seen as the leaders of “this age”, the Magnificent 7 stocks, tumbled in value slightly more than Death Care stocks.

The Magnificent 7 stocks consist of what has been known as “Blue-chip” companies Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. For much of the last two years those companies have led the “charge ahead” in the markets, yet for the first-half of 2026, they cumulatively lost 3.29%.

The article linked above, from Yahoo Finance, pointed out the value of a $10,000 investment on January 1, 2026, and what it would be worth on June 30, 2026 — six months later. I’ve taken the liberty of adding the DCI to their grouping.

Hopefully, you were not too highly invested in Bitcoin over the past 6 months!!!

Don’t forget the “Long Haul”. Here is an interesting chart of the Dow Jones Index value since 1896 through May of 2024. . . Over the long-haul the investment in American business looks pretty good!!

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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