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what it is
Carriage Services runs funeral homes and cemeteries, then sells services and merchandise when families need them most.
how it gets paid
Last year Carriage Services made $417M in revenue. Ceremony and tribute services was the main engine at $146.0M, or 35% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 3.3% last year. A real quarter here should sit near ~$104M (order of magnitude: ~$417M annual ÷ 4)—the old $312M “quarter” and 204% vs. prior year were scrape garbage.
what just happened
Latest quarter revenue is on the order of ~$104M with 35.3% gross margin in the filings we cite—EPS still conflicts across vendors, so verify basis in the 10-Q.
At a glance
B balance sheet — gets the job done, barely
40/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
73.3x trailing p/e — you're paying up for this one
1.1% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
6.5% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 53/100 — below average
What they do
Carriage Services runs funeral homes and cemeteries, then sells services and merchandise when families need them most.
Death care is local, emotional, and hard to switch in real time. Carriage has 162 funeral homes and 31 cemeteries across 26 and 11 states, so your family usually picks from whoever already has the building, staff, and land nearby. That local grip keeps operating margin at 26.9% even with less than 2% U.S. market share from web-based market share data.
How they make money
$417M
annual revenue · their business grew +3.3% last year
Ceremony and tribute services
$146.0M
Disposition of remains
$83.4M
Funeral merchandise and facilities
$62.6M
Memorialization and cemetery property
$125.1M
The products that matter
arranges funerals and sells related merchandise
Funeral Home Services
part of a $417M revenue base
this sits inside the company's $417M annual revenue stream and is where service volume, pricing, and merchandise mix show up first.
core
sells plots, interments, and cemetery services
Cemetery Services
part of the same $417M base
this business works alongside the funeral homes, but the snapshot data does not break out revenue by segment. that's a real limitation, and you should know it.
disclosure thin
procurement and margin initiative
New Earned Core Line
watch 26.9% operating margin
the company says this program should support margins and vendor relationships. the only number you can tie to it right now is the current 26.9% operating margin.
execution bet
Key numbers
73.3x
trailing p/e
Trailing P/E → stock price divided by last 12 months of earnings → so what: you are paying a premium multiple for a company with 3.3% revenue growth.
$558M
long-term debt
Long-term debt → money owed over many years → so what: debt equals about 84% of Carriage's $661 million market cap.
26.9%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit after running the business, before interest and taxes → so what: this is a strong margin for a local service operator.
6.5%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit earned on money invested in the business → so what: decent margins are not turning into great capital efficiency.
Financial health
B
strength
- balance sheet grade B — adequate — nothing special
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 50 / 100
- long-term debt $558M (46% of capital)
B — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for CSV right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
reconcile filings
Latest quarter revenue is about ~$104M (not $312M) with 35.3% gross margin—EPS still disagrees by source.
EPS is messy: one feed shows $2.47 for the latest quarter, Yahoo shows $0.41, and the company’s 2024 quarterly series shows $0.62 in Q4—match the basis (GAAP vs adjusted, diluted share count) before you trade on a headline.
~$104M
qtr revenue (approx.)
$0.41
eps (Yahoo feed · verify)
35.3%
gross margin
the number that mattered
Gross margin at 35.3% matters most because margin → profit kept after direct costs → so what: it shows pricing held up even in a slow-growth business.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the top risk here is a premium multiple resting on margin durability. CSV is not a scale monster. it is a $417M operator with less than 2% market share, so if margins slip, the valuation has less to stand on.
high
margin compression
the 26.9% operating margin is doing most of the thesis work. if labor, merchandise, or cemetery operating costs rise faster than pricing, the market will notice fast.
a lower margin would matter more than a small miss on revenue because the stock already trades at 73.3x earnings.
med
fragmented industry, limited scale
CSV has less than 2% U.S. market share. in plain english: it does not control the market, and it does not get the kind of scale advantage that makes competition irrelevant.
that leaves the company more dependent on local execution than on structural dominance.
med
valuation reset
73.3x trailing earnings is a premium multiple for a business that grew revenue 3.3%. if 2026 lands closer to the low end of guidance, investors may stop giving it premium treatment.
when the multiple is this high, you do not need a disaster to get a weaker stock. you just need normal results.
med
balance sheet constraint
long-term debt is $558M, or 46% of capital. that's manageable with stable operations, but it leaves less room for bad surprises.
if operating performance weakens, leverage stops looking ordinary and starts looking expensive.
the combined risk picture is simple: a company growing revenue 3.3% is priced at 73.3x earnings while carrying $558M in long-term debt. the margin has to stay healthy for that math to work.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
key metric
operating margin
26.9% is the number carrying the story. if that holds, the premium multiple has an argument. if it slips, the argument gets shorter.
guidance
2026 revenue path
management guided to $440M–$450M in revenue. that implies growth from the current $417M base, and you want early quarters to track that path.
trend
EPS versus sales (verify basis)
Do not trust a single “EPS growth %” until GAAP/adjusted and the quarter match—the feeds on this page disagree ($2.47 vs $0.41 vs $0.62). Revenue growth ~3.3% is the steadier line.
balance sheet
debt load
$558M of long-term debt, equal to 46% of capital, is fine until business momentum cools. watch this alongside margins, not by itself.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
40 / 100
in human-speak, analysts do not see this as a smooth, highly predictable earner. you should expect some noise.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for CSV is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$43
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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