I read, watch, and listen about what is happening in the Death Care business.  I do that on an overall scale and I also do it with as many individual companies as possible.

 

Over the last couple of years as I have read, watched, and listened to items concerning funeral home and cemetery consolidator and operator Carriage Services I get a sense that management is positioning the company to move forward.  I get that sense because it appears to me that Carriage Services is getting their debt in line, is getting their rooftops in line, and positioning their company with the vendors they want to be doing business with in the future.

 

For instance in the recent report on the company’s 1st Quarter of 2025, which you can access here, they mentioned that they lowered their debt by $17.0 million and they announced that they had divested of assets which returned proceeds of $18.7 million to the company coffers. . . . . And, the impressive thing is that while working on those strategic situations they brought in more funeral services and revenue than they did in the comparative 1st Quarter of 2024.

 

The company reported Total Revenue of $ 107.1 million for 1Q2025 as compared to Total Revenue of $ 103.5 million in 1Q2024 — that’s an increase of about 3.5%.  The company’s quarterly funeral contracts were listed at 12,055 as compared to last year’s First Quarter contracts of 11,773 — that’s an increase of 2.4% and I believe it was done without any large acquisitions.

 

It was also interesting to me to note that Carriage Services and Service Corporation International both reported 1st Quarter 2025 results last week and in many areas had common results.  One that I noticed was a category which they call “Comparable Funeral Home Results”.  Here is a small table I put together which gives, in percentages, the increases for Revenue, Services Volume, and Revenue per Service for that category.  The percentages indicate the increase over the same three-month period of 2024.

 

 

While Carriage Services and SCI both operate on national scales, this comparison does give you something to compare your locations to.  Both companies combined to increase services coupled with a Revenue per Service increase to increase the Total Revenue.  I believe that is an approach that needs to be met in higher than normal inflationary times.

 

As far as Carriage Services’ performance for the quarter, here’s what CEO Carlos Quezada had to say in prepared statements in the 1Q25 press release last week, “. . . .Our solid financial performance, highlighted by a 4.6% increase in comparable funeral home revenue was primarily driven by a 2.4% increase in funeral home at-need volume and a 2.2% increase in average revenue per at-need contract. . . . .Through continued investments in innovation, the expansion of key partnerships, and the empowerment of our people, we are building the Carriage of the future.”

 

Here’s a couple other metrics from Carriage Services’ quarterly report:

• Cremation Rate:  Jumped to 60.5% as compared to 59.3% in 1Q2024

• Average Revenue per Funeral Contract:  Jumped to $ 5,731 as compared to $ 5,610 in 1Q2024.  (As a comparison, SCI reported “Average Revenue per Service” in 1Q2025 as $ 5,743)

• Preneed Interment Property Rights Sold:  This category declined for Carriage Services to 3,100 in 1Q2025 as compared to 3,244 in 1Q2024 — a decline of 4.5% on the year.

 

Finally, I think a statement by CEO Quezada gives a mindset of where Carriage Services wants to go.  He finishes his prepared statement with this sentence, “As we become a premier experience company, we are proving that passion, operational excellence, and financial discipline turns vision into value for our shareholders”.

 

My take on that statement is that the management of Carriage Services is focused on providing an “experience” to their clientele that over time creates a greater value to their shareholders.  That is a great aspiration to have. . . . . and it will take strategy and execution to get there.  However, I see Carriage Services continuing that march forward at this time.

 

Disclaimer — The author of this article for Funeral Director Daily is a shareholder of Carriage Services and of Service Corporation International.

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

• Ex-Harvard morgue manageer charged with selling stolen body parts to plead guilty.  Reuters
• Fort Collins funeral home now offers human body composting.  North Forty News (CO)
• New crematorium and natural burial ground proposed for Leeds.  Leed Live (Great Britain)
• Palm Eastern Mortuary and Cemetery announces new Skyview Chapel and Event Center.  Nevada Business (NV)
• Jury orders Dominion to pay nearly $350k to Virginia Beach Funeral Home.  Video news story and print article.  WAVY Channel 10 News – Virginia Beach (VA)

 

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