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SCI’s Cemetery Business Outshines Funeral Segment in Strong Q3

Service Corporation International reported third-quarter results on Oct. 29, with revenue increasing 4.4% versus the year-ago period and adjusted earnings per share rising 10%.

Third-quarter highlights included:

Revenue grew $44.1 million, or 4.4%, over the third quarter of 2024.
Gross profit increased $12.9 million, or 5%, in the current quarter.
Comparable total funeral sales average grew 3.1% over the third quarter of 2024 supported by 13.4% growth in non-funeral home sales average.
Cemetery preneed sales production increased 9.6% in the current quarter.
GAAP earnings per share was 83 cents compared to 81 cents in the third quarter of 2024.
Adjusted earnings per share was 87 cents compared to 79 cents in the third quarter of 2024, representing 10% growth over the prior-year quarter.
Net cash provided by operating activities was $252.3 million in the current quarter of 2025 compared to $263.8 million in the prior-year quarter, due to an expected increase in cash taxes paid of $11.1 million.
Excluding special items and cash taxes paid, net cash provided by operating activities increased $10 million to $283 million.
Year-to-date net cash provided by operating activities increased $49.1 million, or 7.2%, to $729.9 million compared to $680.8 million in the prior year.
When normalizing for cash tax increases, year to date net cash provided by operating activities excluding special items increased $141.3 million, or 19.5%, to $866.1 million compared to $724.8 million in the prior year.

Tom Ryan, the company’s chairman and CEO, commented on the third quarter performance, “We are proud to report adjusted earnings per share of $0.87 and net cash provided by operating activities of $252.3 million. Strong performance in our cemetery segment was led by an increase in preneed cemetery sales production of 10%, which drove growth in comparable cemetery revenue of 7% and cemetery gross profit of 12%. An increase in our comparable core funeral average was offset by the anticipated decline in comparable core funeral services performed. In addition, our non-funeral home sales average increased 13.4%, far outpacing the slight decline in non-funeral home services performed. Finally, our core funeral preneed sales production increased 9% with increases in both insurance and trust production. Based on these strong results, we are well positioned to have a strong finish to the year.”

Ryan also thanked the company’s 25,000 associates for their unwavering commitment to providing excellent service to client families.

SCI also confirmed the $3.85 midpoint of its annual guidance range for 2025, narrowing the expected range to $3.80 to $3.90. “Our cash flow outlook has increased to a range of $910 million to $950 million due to lower cash taxes and working capital timing. Our outlook for diluted earnings per share from continuing operations excluding special items, at the midpoint of our guidance range, is anticipated to be within our expected long-term growth framework of 8%-12%,” the company stated.

Executives Provide Additional Details During Conference Call

During a conference call with Wall Street analysts, SCI executives provided more details about the company’s quarterly performance.

The performance of the cemetery segment stood out.

“Comparable cemetery revenue increased by $31 million, or almost 7%,” Ryan said. “Higher core revenue was the primary driver, complemented by higher other revenue. Our core revenue increase of $27.5 million, or 7% over the prior year quarter, was primarily due to a $27 million increase in total recognized pre-need revenue, of which $21 million resulted from higher property revenue and $6 million from higher merchandise and services revenue, which includes recognized merchandise and service trust fund income. Other revenue, primarily internal care fund trust income, increased as well by $3.5 million, or 10%. Total recognized preneed revenue benefited from growth in comparable cemetery preneed sales production of $30 million, or almost 10%. Large sales grew by an impressive $8 million, or 19% over the prior-year quarter. Maybe more impressively, core sales accounted for $22 million of the sales production increase, as solid velocity growth was complemented by higher sales averages. Cemetery gross profit in the quarter grew by $18 million, and the gross profit percentage increased by 160 basis points, generating an operating margin percentage of 34%, primarily due to the strong growth in cemetery revenues.”

Regarding cemetery consumers and the impressive growth, Ryan said, “We’re seeing more cremation consumers pick either cremation gardens, cremation niches. We have a lot of products that I’d tell you consumers really don’t have familiarity with. I think a lot of cremation consumers come in and don’t really understand what we have available. So, we’re really focused this year with some consumer research that we’ve done about trying to tie that consumer in a better way to educate them about what we have. Because we found in the focus groups that almost zero out of 10 knew what we had. And about eight out of 10, once they saw it, said, I’m interested in looking. Doesn’t mean they’re going to buy, but I think there’s a consumer there that we probably have not done as good a job with as we’ve done with the burial consumer.”

On the funeral side, results were also solid – going down slightly mainly because of a 3.5% decrease in core funeral services performed.

“Total comparable funeral revenue declined by almost $2 million or less than 1% compared to the prior year quarter,” Ryan said. “Comparable core funeral revenue declined by $3 million, or just under 1% primarily due to a 3.5% decrease in core funeral services performed, partially offset by a 3% increase in the core average revenue per service. The core cremation rate increased modestly by 50 basis points to 57.3%. Non-funeral home revenue increased by $3 million primarily due to a 13.4% increase in the average revenue per service.”

The company expects impressive growth in the average revenue per service to continue as older preneed contracts that are maturing out of its backlog have higher cumulative trust earnings, Ryan said.

“Non-funeral home preneed sales revenue decreased by $4.6 million, primarily due to our decision to stop delivering preneed merchandise at the time of sale,” Ryan said. “This quarterly decline should cease later in 2026 as we anniversary the date of not delivering merchandise prior to need. And the non-funeral home average revenue per service will have a meaningful compounded growth in the coming years as each year a higher percentage of contracts with higher value mature out of the backlog. The decline in merchandise revenue this quarter was partially offset by higher general agency revenue due to our conversion from selling a trust-funded preneed product to an insurance funded preneed product. Core general agency and other revenue grew by $3 million, or 6%, primarily driven by higher preneed insurance sales production.”

Non-funeral home preneed sales production decreased $14 million, or almost 20%, as SCI Direct transitioned from the sale of trust to insurance funded preneed contracts, Ryan said. “This transition has required many of our sales counselors in certain states to go through extensive training, obtain insurance licenses, both of which contributes to the temporary reduction in the number of contracts written. We expect in early 2026, we will experience year-over-year sales production growth again for SCI Direct as a whole.”

Ryan concluded, “We expect favorable trends in funeral volume, funeral average, SCI direct, pre-need cemetery sales, and lower interest rates, and believe that we can achieve earnings per share growth within our long-term growth framework of 8% to 12%.”

Investments Going Strong

Eric Tanzberger, executive vice president and chief financial officer, noted that SCI invested $140 million in the quarter into existing locations, new builds, funeral home and cemetery acquisitions and real estate purchases.

“So, let’s break that down a little bit,” he said. “We invested $86 million of maintenance capital primarily into our current funeral homes and cemeteries in the quarter, which was in line with our internal expectations – $45 million of this was allocated to highly profitable cemetery development projects, $35 million into our current funeral and cemetery locations, and then $6 million into digital investments – and some corporate spend as well. We also invested $17 million of growth capital in the quarter, primarily for the construction of new funeral homes and crematories. Finally, we invested $37 million into business acquisitions during the quarter, bringing our full-year business acquisition investment to $65 million. Also, subsequent to quarter end, we invested an additional $3 million for a few locations in Canada, bringing us currently just shy of the low end of our full-year acquisition target range. The pipeline of acquisition opportunities today, as we speak, continues to be robust, and we fully expect to achieve our $75 million to $125 million acquisition investment range target for 2025.

Read the full earnings call transcript.

Carriage Services Reports a 17.2% Increase in Adjusted Quarterly Earnings

On Nov. 5, Carriage Services reported third-quarter adjusted diluted earnings of 75 cents per share compared to 64 cents in the prior-year period – a 17.2% increase.

Other quarterly highlights included:

Total revenue grew 2% over the prior year quarter, driven by increased operating revenue of 5.2%, primarily as a result of 21.4% growth in cemetery preneed sales.

Cemetery operating revenue increased 12.6% over the prior year quarter, driven by a 4.6% increase in the number of preneed interment rights sold and a 15.1% increase in the average price of preneed interment rights sold.
Financial revenue increased 27.2% over the prior-year quarter, primarily driven by a 27.9% increase in preneed insurance contracts sold, resulting in an increase in general agency commission revenue.
GAAP diluted EPS of $0.41 compared to $0.63 in the prior year quarter.
Divested non-core assets consisting of seven funeral homes and one cemetery and completed the strategic acquisition of two businesses that generated more than $15 million in revenue last year while reducing its leverage ratio to 4.1x.

Carlos Quezada, vice chairman and CEO, stated, “We are pleased with our third-quarter performance, which reflects the strength of our strategy and the dedication of our team. Our adjusted diluted EPS of $0.75 represents a 17.2% increase over last year’s $0.64, underscoring our commitment to disciplined execution and purposeful growth.

We are excited to be back in growth mode, expanding our footprint this quarter through strategic acquisitions of businesses that served over 2,600 families and generated more than $15 million in annual revenue last year. At the same time, we divested certain non-core assets to reallocate capital toward better long-term value creation opportunities.

Total operating revenue grew 5.2% year-over-year, driven by 21.4% growth in cemetery preneed sales combined with financial revenue growth of 27.2%, reflecting the continued success of our national prearranged funeral and cemetery strategy. These results highlight the strength of our team, the effectiveness of our business strategy, and the growing demand for the premier experiences we deliver.”

On a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Quezada and other Carriage executives welcomed the newest members of the Carriage family, including Faith Chapel Funeral Homes and Crematory, Osceola Memory Gardens Cemetery Funeral Homes and Crematory, Porto Celli Funeral Home and Crematory, Fisk Funeral Home and Crematory, Funeral de Borinquen, and Cremation Care Providers of Central Florida.

On the call, Quezada noted that total operating revenue for the quarter grew to $101.3 million, an increase of 5.2% over the same period last year, which was primarily driven by an impressive 21.4% year-over-year increase in preneed cemetery sales.

“Funeral operating revenue was down $753,000, or 1.3%, primarily driven by a 2.1% reduction in funeral volume,” he said. “The summer months, July and August, produced lower volumes than expected. However, we are glad to see volume return to normal in September. Based on what we have seen in October, we expect a normalized volume trend to continue in the fourth quarter. As it relates to our cemetery segment, it continues to be a key long-term value engine, with operating revenue reaching $35.6 million, an increase of $4 million, or 12.6% year-over-year.”

He also noted that Carriage continues to work with its sales partners, the National Guardian Life Insurance Co. and Precoa, to identify ways to leverage technological capabilities and increase preneed sales. “With our continuous focus on execution, we believe we can sustainably grow preneed funeral sales through 2026,” Quezada said.

Executives also noted that in November they will introduce Titan, an AI-powered sales agent designed to generate leads and schedule appointments for preneed counselors. “Sales Edge 2.0 and Titan represent a significant step forward in leveraging technology, innovation and data analytics to accelerate sales growth,” Quezada said. “We remain confident in our sales strategy and continue to grow pre-need cemetery sales within our previously stated range of 10%-20%.”

Quezada and his other team members are also keeping a close watch on flu season, as they observed that last year – for whatever reason – it was weaker in the fourth quarter but stronger in the first quarter. “If that trend remains, it may shift how we perceive quarters in terms of the seasonality,” Quezada said.

Company executives noted that GAAP performance was negatively impacted by a loss on divestitures and impairment of long-lived assets from businesses held for sale at the end of the third quarter of 2025.

For the year, Carriage Services anticipates revenues in the range of $413-$417 million, adjusted consolidated EBITDA between $130-$132 million, adjusted diluted EPS of $3.25-$3.30, overhead expenses ranging from 13%-13.5% of revenues and adjusted free cash flow between $44-$48 million.

While the company does not anticipate on closing on any new acquisitions in the fourth quarter, it does expect to be “busy” on that front in the first quarter of next year.

Read the full earnings report.

Judge Rejects Plea Deal for Return to Nature Co-Owner in Colorado Funeral Home Case

One of the co-owners of the Return to Nature funeral home, Carie Hallford, appeared in an El Paso County courtroom recently, where a judge refused to accept her proposed plea agreement in the state case against her, according to a report by KOAA News 5.

Hallford and her husband, Jon Hallford, are accused of mishandling the remains of nearly 200 people between 2019 and 2023. The case has drawn national attention since the shocking discovery inside the Penrose, Colorado funeral home in 2023.

Earlier this year, Jon Hallford faced a similar situation. After extensive testimony from victims’ families during his August hearing, Judge Eric Bentley rejected his plea deal as well. He withdrew his guilty plea and entered a plea of not guilty in September.

During Monday’s hearing, numerous relatives of those whose bodies were found at the facility urged the court to deny Carie Hallford’s plea arrangement, which proposed a prison term of 15 to 20 years. Many family members described her as equally responsible as her husband, saying she was the main point of contact for grieving families and the person they interacted with when receiving what they believed were their loved ones’ cremated remains.

Due to defense scheduling conflicts, the trial is not expected to begin until Oct. 6, 2026, nearly a year later than the families had hoped. Some attendees voiced disappointment about the delay, saying it prolongs their grief and prevents closure.

Jon Hallford’s state trial is set to begin earlier, on Feb. 9, 2026.

Both Carie and Jon Hallford have already faced federal charges related to money laundering, for which they each accepted plea deals. Jon Hallford has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, a decision he is currently appealing. Carie Hallford is scheduled to be sentenced in her federal case in December.

Read the full report.

Rhode Island’s First Pet Aquamation Facility Offers an Eco-Friendly Option

Until recently, Rhode Island pet owners had few choices for handling their pets’ remains, typically opting for burial or cremation. That changed with the opening of Nature’s Pawprint, the state’s first aquamation center, which provides a more sustainable approach to pet aftercare.

The facility, launched by longtime veterinarians Jane Linden and Michelle Sylvester, was created to give families a climate-conscious alternative, The Brown Daily Herald reported in an article.

Aquamation — also known as water cremation or alkaline hydrolysis — uses a combination of warm water and an alkaline solution to accelerate natural decomposition. The process produces up to 90% fewer carbon emissions than traditional flame cremation, according to Bio-Response Solutions, a manufacturer of aquamation systems.

Linden and Sylvester extend their environmentally focused philosophy beyond the aquamation process itself, providing eco-friendly urns and comprehensive end-of-life services for pets through their companion business, which also includes euthanasia care.

Having worked in veterinary medicine for more than 20 years, the co-founders have seen firsthand how many families have questions and concerns about pet aftercare. They wanted to create a service that was transparent, trustworthy, and environmentally responsible.

While Rhode Island now allows aquamation for animals, human use of the process remains prohibited — though it is permitted in 28 other states.

Read the full article.

Dastardly Deed: Cremated Remains of More than 300 Individuals Dumped in the Desert

A Las Vegas area resident discovered the cremated remains of more than 300 individuals in the desert, according to 8 News Now.

It is unclear who dumped the remains, but investigators said they believe they came from a local funeral home.

Fortunately, Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries has stepped up to assist in collecting the remains and giving them a proper burial.

“I think it’s important to us to make sure that these people are not forgotten and not left,” said Celena DiLullo, president of Palm. “It’s important to our community and our profession that we demonstrate how much we care about these people.”

The situation remains under investigation.

Watch the television station’s report.

New Details Emerge After Funeral Home Employee Is Crushed by Vault

The funeral home employee who was crushed by a massive concrete burial vault while working at Restland Funeral Home, Cemetery and Crematory on Oct. 20 left a voicemail on his wife’s cell phone while he was trapped – and he leaves behind a son who is about to turn four, the New York Post reported.

Angel Rojas, 24, called for help before leaving the voice mail on his wife’s phone.

“He told me he loved me and he wanted to go home,” Rojas told WLBT.

It took more than 45 minutes to free Rojas – he died at a hospital the next day.

The Rojas family is considering filing a lawsuit against the funeral home, suggesting the funeral home was grossly negligent by allowing Rojas to move a vault on his own.

Watch the WLBT interview with Rojas’s widow.

Your Chance to Own a Historic Former Funeral Home in Pennsylvania

If you want a chance to own a turn-of-the-century mansion and carriage house for $149,000 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania – a house that happens to have been a funeral home – well, you are in luck.

This home in McKeesport, which was known as Hunter Funeral Home for many years, is on the market.

Boasting five bedrooms and five bathrooms, the all-brick historic home was a funeral home for five generations.

The house was purchased and converted into a funeral home in 1955 by Bill Hunter’s grandfather, W.W. Hunter, according to an article in Pittsburgh Magazine. The home was initially built by a doctor, who lived there with his wife and daughter.

While some areas of the home are still set up for funeral work, the house is no longer licensed as a funeral home.

Daniel Hug to Speak at Tech Turbocharge in Baltimore

When you come to Tech Turbocharge: Digital Tools to Elevate the Deathcare Profession, you’ll learn how to put technology to work for you, your staff, and most importantly – the families you serve.

Daniel Hug, client relations team department manager at Ring Ring Marketing, is among the speakers at the event, which will be Dec. 11 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Baltimore – BWI Airport.

The program also includes Matt Bailey with Connecticut Life Tributes, Brent Thomas of Dead Ringers, Minh Reid of Carriage Services and Cole Waybright of Homesteaders Life Company.

You’ll walk away from Tech Turbocharge with a blueprint so you can:

Enhance the family experience: Modern tools provide personalized, seamless communication, helping families feel more supported during difficult times.
Boost operational efficiency: Automation and integrated systems reduce administrative burdens, allowing staff to focus on compassionate service.
Improve revenue streams: Advanced marketing and analytics tools can drive more preneed and at-need cases by reaching the right families at the right time.
Future-proof your business: Early adoption of technology ensures long-term competitiveness as consumer expectations continue to evolve.

Visit www.TechTurbocharge.com to learn more about the event – or just click on the events tab on FuneralVision.com.

The event is sponsored by Homesteaders Life Company, Celebrate Life Company, Carriage Services, ASD – Answering Service for Directors, Ring Ring Marketing and Nomis Publications.