According to a Carriage Services Press Release of April 26, 2017, the company posted record revenue results for the First Quarter of 2017.  Carriage announced that their revenue for the first three months of 2017 was $68.1 million as compared to last years $63.3 million for the same time period — an  increase of 7.6%

Earnings per share, however,were lower at $0.45 per share as compared to last year’s $0.47 per share and analysts estimates of $0.49 per share.  The press release stated that earnings decreased 4.3% due to total overhead being about $1 million higher than last year.  This was attributed to the substantial new leadership talent and investments in Operations, Strategic and Corporate Development, and Information Technology.

The company stated that they view the first quarter performance as a “Glass Half Full” because the few concentrated operational areas of relative weakness are opportunities to get better in the near term.

Funeral Director Daily take:  It truly is a “glass half-full” scenario as there are higher revenues (good news) but higher expenses and less profit per share (bad news).  Carriage Services is a fairly small public company who has grown in the death care space via acquisitions.

The key in the acquisition business is that as you get bigger, you also have to stay “lean” to get more economies of scale and bring home greater profitability.  I’m a “Buy and Hold” investor in Carriage Services.  I bought the stock and will hold it for ten years with the thought that it will be worth more then than now.  I will be watching though — if they continue to talk about higher costs due to “leadership talent” – that might give me cause for concern.[wpforms id=”436″ title=”true” description=”true”]