A few days ago The Pittsburgh Business Times published a feature story on hometown company Matthews International.  It’s a very interesting article that goes back into the history of the company and how it has now expanded into a diversified business that casts a shadow in a lot of industries. . . .including Death Care.

 

The article, which you can access here, also points out that from the company’s pre-Civil War beginnings to today that “virtually all” the businesses the company is involved in today stem from the same three businesses that they were involved in in the early 1900’s.

 

Like Death Care, the article states “Pittsburgh knows Matthews primarily for its memorialization business, which contributed $830 million of the $1.8 billion in annual sales in fiscal year 2024, which ended on Sept. 30. This segment includes cast bronze and granite memorials, businesses Matthews has been in since the early 1900s, and also caskets, cremation equipment and, most recently, embalming fluid and other funeral and cemetery supplies. It’s a big producer of cash flow for the company.”

 

The article also pointed out that “Matthews also continues to move forward in that legacy, especially since the company went public in 1994. Seeing changes in trends around its memorialization business — primarily the increase of cremation over traditional funerals — it moved into the cremation industry in 1996 and, two years later, acquired York to create a position in casket manufacturing. It did the same thing with granite markers when it acquired United Memorial Products Inc. in 2009, Aurora Casket Co. in 2015 and Star Granite & Bronze in 2018. Matthews is now the largest or second-largest in market share in each of these major categories. . . . . It expanded even more recently with May’s acquisition of The Dodge Co., a Massachusetts-based provider of embalming fluids and supplies, for $57 million.”

 

The complete article also delves into Matthews’ dry electrode battery business in which they have had a disagreement and lawsuit with EV auto maker Tesla.  CEO Joseph Bartolacci makes the point that the Tesla disagreement was less about who holds the patents for the technology (according to the article Matthews does) and more about how long Matthews could be kept from selling the process and equipment to others.

 

Liam Burke, a managing director of B. Riley Securities is para-phrased in the article with the following “While he doesn’t know the ins and outs of the battery business, Burke said he thinks Tesla’s intense interest in it — as well as the interest shown by competitors in the EV industry — says a lot.”

 

Another point brought up in the feature article is some dissatisfaction of certain shareholders who “would like to see better performance in the stock”.  That brings about some points on the new businesses that Matthews is trying to develop to compliment the solid earnings of their Memorialization unit.

 

CEO Bartolacci sums up the process at the end of the article when he says “Matthews strategy over the last two decades has been conscious, not random, and with the evolution of the next 175 years in mind”.

 

All in all, a really good, in-depth article touching on Matthews success, failures, and aspirations.

 

Related Article — This article was published July 1, 2025, by Reuters.  “Activist Barrington asks casket maker Matthews for board seats, warns of second battle”.  Reuters

 

Funeral Director Daily take:  One of the slogans that pops into my head when I read this article is “Jack of all trades, master of none”.  If you read the article you will probably agree with me that Matthews International has a lot of “irons in the fire”.  . . . And, that is great if your company is returning value to your shareholders.

 

However, when your company stock sold for $54.24 on July 6, 2015, and sells for less than half of that amount a decade later (Matthews sells for $25.44 as of Sunday) it might cause shareholders to pause and wonder if having so many different companies might not allow for a laser-focus on profitability and growth.  In essence, a $1000 investment in Matthews in 2015 is now worth approximately $470.  That may be why some shareholders are unhappy.

 

I see certain parallels in this story and the Hillenbrand Industry/Batesville situation.  From my (as a stockholder) point of view with Hillenbrand it always seemed like they wanted to diversify into businesses outside of Death Care even as Death Care brought them solid profits and earnings year after year.  They announced the sale of their Batesville unit on December 15, 2022, and now, not quite three years later, Hillenbrand Industry stock has sank almost 50% since that time. . . . .I find myself questioning if Hillenbrand sold the wrong parts of their company. . . .

 

One other perspective I have on the Matthews situation is that of the potential in their dry battery business that may be a big help in developing the EV auto industry.  If it is going to become a huge difference maker in that industry, what is keeping Tesla (and their majority owner Elon Musk) from putting in a bid to buy Matthews International and “own” the process?  Matthews has a market capitalization (shares of stock x price of stock) of about $780 million.  That price is more than likely within the reach of the man who once paid $44 billion for Twitter if he sees the value in the battery technology of Matthews going forward.

 

And, the purchase could be financed by spinning off the Memorial business of Matthews for a simple 1x of Memorialization segment sales. . . about $840 million.  For the record, Batesville had a reported 2022 fiscal year revenue of $625.6 million making its purchase by LongRange Capital for $761 million a multiple of about 1.2 times revenue.

 

In any regard, that is a “simplistic’ viewpoint that I have on the situation.

 

Again, a great article on Matthews International and a little tie-in with the historic and generational family-owned funeral homes in that even with longevity, in Matthews case 175 years of operation. . . . “The story is still being written”.

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

• Half of Americans don’t have life insurance.  Here’s why that’s a mistake.  CNBC Select
• Connecticut funeral home owner accused of theft loses embalming license, state board says.  CT Post (CT)
• Remains discovered at former pioneer cemetery are reburied in Kalamazoo.  WMUK Radio (MI)

 

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