Oct 29, 2026 earnings call — Preneed sales growth and Q4 EPS guidance
Fourth-quarter EPS guidance set to $1.10 to $1.20, lowering 2026 normalized EPS midpoint to approximately $3.99.
Revenue $1.1B (est $1.1B) · EPS $0.97 (est $0.99)
Key quotes
"Comparable pre need cemetery sales production grew an impressive $17 million or 5% in the quarter."
"Comparable core funeral volume declined by 0.5% which was below our internal expectations."
"In addition, our transition to a higher fixed cost guaranteed hourly wage sales compensation plan focused on counselor retention added a 100 basis points to our selling compensation rate."
Analyst Q&A 7
cost items and persistence
Q (Parker Snure · Raymond James): Analyst asked which cost items (advertising, healthcare, fuel) are one-time versus persistent into 2027 and how to think about them when bridging into 2027.
A: Management said health care costs are persistent and harder to control. They expect selling and advertising costs to reduce over time as rollout timing normalizes and they will review fuel usage and fleet to lower fuel costs. They will try to manage these costs into 2027.
"I mean, health care costs are health care costs, and I think every company is experiencing some of that." — Thomas Luke Ryan (CEO·CHAIR)
cremation advertising costs details
Q (Joanna Gajuk · Raymond James): First, analyst asked for more color on the cremation memorial advertising offering and why the expense was higher than expected. Then asked how much promotional cost was in the quarter and assumptions for Q4.
A: Management said the advertising supports cemetery memorial projects and funeral seminars, using digital, media and on-site promotional displays that have driven sales lift. They view some of the higher costs as rollout timing and growing pains they can manage and expect to control costs over 2027. They said promotional selling costs were about "a little over a penny above our expectations," roughly $2 million in the quarter and likely similar in Q4.
"I think the selling costs were, you know, about you know, call it a little over a penny above our expectations." — Thomas Luke Ryan (CEO·CHAIR)
funeral volumes and digital lead strategy
Q (Tomohiko Sano · JPMorgan): Analyst asked whether recent funeral softness is mortality volatility or a structural change, and whether AI/search trends are changing how consumers find SCI and how that affects digital investment.
A: Management said market analysis shows they are holding market share and recent volume shortfalls reflect death-rate volatility versus share loss. On digital, they said it is a major strategic focus and they are already investing capital to generate better leads and route them through CRM and sales processes, and they will continue but do not expect a large new increase in capital spending.
"Yeah. Tom, it is a big driver for us, and it is a big strategy for us and we put capital behind it." — Eric Tanzberger
acquisitions and Q4 volume path
Q (Tyler Barishaw · Truist): Analyst asked why the company would not pursue more acquisitions when volumes are under pressure, and how volumes are expected to progress through the quarter.
A: Management said they will pursue acquisitions that fit their markets and scale, preferring patient, long-term deals and passing on many pipeline opportunities to use capital elsewhere. For volumes, they said October started lower and they project the fourth quarter to be down slightly versus prior year, with November and December uncertain.
"we are projecting that the fourth quarter should be down slightly as compared to the prior year." — Thomas Luke Ryan (CEO·CHAIR)
pricing, legal settlement, and deal activity
Q (Albert Rice · UBS): Analyst asked timing for passing higher costs like fuel to customers, asked about the favorable legal settlement amount, and questioned potential deal activity to hit the acquisition target range.
A: Management said they price in waves, moving immediately where inflationary items justify it while continuing annual reviews and cost management. They said the legal settlement benefit was about $3 million and below their $5 million materiality threshold so it stayed in results. They view the acquisition pipeline as robust, expect more fourth quarter deals to get solidly into their targeted range, and emphasized available liquidity and share repurchase capacity.
"the amount was about $3 million, and the reason why we do not break that out we kinda have an internal rule that says something over $5 million is material enough to exclude to the positive or the negative." — Eric Tanzberger
confidence in next year and free cash flow
Q (Scott Schneeberger · Oppenheimer): Analyst asked what underpins management's confidence for next year given expense pressures, and why free cash flow guidance was maintained despite EPS guide cut.
A: Management said confidence comes from controllable levers: inflationary pricing, cost reductions, anniversarying sales compensation changes, and improved general agency trends and preneed performance. They said preneed cash collections—installments and higher down payments—are driving strong free cash flow, which supports capital uses like buybacks or deals.
"a lot of this stuff that is holding it up nicely, Scott, relates to the cash coming in the door from the installments and the down payments of current preneed cemetery sales associated from the Salesforce." — Eric Tanzberger
customer segments and health care plans
Q (Tobey Sommer · Truist): Analyst asked how trends differ across high-end, core/mid, and lower-end customers and whether there will be health care plan changes in 2027 to address rising costs.
A: Management said high-end demand tracks housing and markets and remains active today, mid and lower customers continue to purchase at-need and preneed, and they are seeing more single-pay purchases and higher down payments indicating consumer confidence. On health care, they said employees are important, they will promote preventive health to reduce costs, but employees will likely share more of increased costs and there are limits to changes they can make.
"We are seeing more consumers buying single pay insurance versus multi pay." — Thomas Luke Ryan (CEO·CHAIR)