Funeral Director Daily

Might this be a trend in small community cemetery financing?

By Funeral Director Daily / May 14, 2026 /

  Nobody really likes taxes. . . .But, then again, nobody wants their loved ones forgotten either.   If you are in the Death Care business you know of the costs to operate cemeteries.  And, since cremation has been growing resulting in a loss of full-body cemetery lots being sold, many small cemeteries without the…

Matthews International Earnings Call: Memorialization business, more acquisitions such as the Dodge purchase in the works?

By Funeral Director Daily / May 13, 2026 /

Funeral home and cemetery products supplier Matthews International reported their January thru March 2026 earnings on April 30.  The next day company CEO Joseph Bartolacci and company CFO Daniel Stopar answered questions from stock analysts pertaining to that earnings report.  As you may know Matthews International is the parent company of Matthews Environment Solutions (cremation…

New York’s Green-Wood Cemetery becomes more immersive

By Funeral Director Daily / May 12, 2026 /

  This recent article from the Smithsonian Magazine mentions that “Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery—a sprawling, hilly burial ground filled with tombstones from the 19th and 20th centuries—has long been a destination for more than the dead. Established in 1838, the cemetery quickly gained a reputation for its beauty, drawing tourists like other New York attractions such as…

SCI Earnings Call: CEO Tom Ryan answers on Preneed and Managing

By Funeral Director Daily / May 11, 2026 /

  Service Corporation International reported on their 1st Quarter of 2026 about ten days ago and then followed that up with an Earnings Call with stock analysts that follow the company.  As usual Funeral Director Daily took a look at the Earnings Call transcript which you can access here and decided to lay out some…

Carriage CEO Quezada: “Carriage is well positioned to accelerate our return to purposeful growth”

By Funeral Director Daily / May 8, 2026 /

Carriage Services, an American public company and operator of funeral homes and cemeteries, reported on their 1st Quarter of 2026 on Wednesday.  The report showed progress on the company’s three-year quest of strategic internal improvements leading to their ability to re-enter a growth phase of their business as CEO Carlos Quezada makes known in a…

Is there something to learn here?

By Funeral Director Daily / May 7, 2026 /

  I’ll admit that I’m not the most tech savvy person when it comes to knowing how the internet and artificial intelligence might benefit my funeral home.  But, I’m also a business person who is looking for every advantage possible when it comes to finding customers and building market share for my business.   So,…

Are Americans “reconnecting” with Death?

By Funeral Director Daily / May 6, 2026 /

  Are Americans “reconnecting” with death?  That is a strange question which will have different meanings for different people.  And, if we are “reconnecting” with death, what might that mean for those of us who make our livings in the world of funerals, cremations, cemetery work, and memorialization? . . . . . Might it…

Matthews International: Finally figuring out who they are?

By Funeral Director Daily / May 5, 2026 /

Matthews International reported their 2nd Quarter 2026 (January thru March period) last Thursday evening after the markets closed.  Here’s what their CEO Joseph Bartolacci had to say in prepared remarks in the press release which you can access here:   “We are pleased with our operating results for the fiscal 2026 second quarter. While our…

Death Care continues to be a good investment (so far) in 2026

By Funeral Director Daily / May 4, 2026 /

  The stock markets closed on Thursday, April 30, and it continued with an upward climb for Death Care stocks.  April 30 marked the calendar as one-third of the way through 2026 and with it showed an additional increase in the Death Care Index (DCI) over the March 31 number.   The Funeral Director Daily…

SCI 1Q 2026: Revenues up, but lots of challenges

By Funeral Director Daily / May 1, 2026 /

    Service Corporation International (SCI), the continent’s largest Death Care provider, reported their 1st Quarter of 2026 financial results late Wednesday.  You can access a copy of the press release on that report here.   Here’s what Tom Ryan, the company’s Chairman and CEO commented in a prepared statement included in the press release:…