Over the years I’ve seen many family funeral homes explode in value as they built more market share, acquired more facilities, and simply built a culture of enhancing revenues while at the same time containing their costs.  When one can do that, with any business, it will lead to higher profitability and a higher value for the business.

 

It’s my opinion that formula does not always happen with the value of public companies because, so much of the time, the value of a public company as indicated by its stock price, reflects on the promise of the company more than the actual value of the business on any given day.  And, that is why stock prices move up and down  —  it’s reflective of what institutional stockholders and private stockholders think about the company’s prospects going forward.

 

If my perspective is somewhat correct about public companies, then the first eight months of 2026 show a general impression that stockholders are not real “bullish” or excited about the future of the Death Care profession – at least the public company Death Care profession.  To be honest, there is not a great deal of public companies in that profession, but when you consolidate the four best known of them they show a stock value loss of almost 7% in a market economy that has the broader indexes of that economy growing by over 10% each.

 

The following chart shows those four companies individually, as well as a consolidated group known as the Death Care Index (DCI),  and the three major indexes of the stock market including those indexes individual gains for the first eight months of 2026.

 

 

 

What about the Long-Term?  Is Death Care a good investment?  

I thought it would be interesting to see how those four Death Care companies compared with other well-know American companies over a longer time period.  The following results come from a search I did yesterday on Seeking Alpha and shows the cumulative rate of return that the stock prices of various public companies have performed at for the past 10 years as of yesterday’s closing price.  I’ve included the Death Care Index (DCI) companies as well as companies I refer to as “Legacy” American companies, and some new (a quarter of a century, or so, old) technology companies.

 

Cumulative Stock Price Appreciation over the Past 10 Years:

Death Care:

• SCI – 209.9%
• Carriage Services – 44.8%
• Matthews International –   -(65.4%)
• Security National Financial – 168.1%

 

Legacy American Companies:

• Berkshire Hathaway – 244.6%
• McDonald’s – 127.7%
• Coca Cola – 108.8%
• Mastercard – 499.2%
• Johnson & Johnson – 132.8%

 

Newer Technology Companies:

• Nvidia — 14,981.0%    (a public company for 27 years)
• Netflix – 757.3%   (a public company for 24 years)

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

• What goes into a prepaid funeral contract?  Connecticut consumers now have more info.  WNPR – Connecticut Public Radio (CT)
• “Building houses at former cemetery disrespectful”.  BBC News (Great Britain)
• Birches Crematorium and Remembrance Park changes hands.  Norwich and Winsford Guardian  (Great Britain)

 

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,482 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily

 

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