Carriage Services Inc: Form 10-Q for the period ended Jun 30, 2026

OVERVIEW

General

We operate in two business segments: Funeral Home Operations, which currently accounts for approximately 66% of our total revenue and Cemetery Operations, which currently accounts for approximately 34% of our total revenue. At June 30, 2026, we operated 155 funeral homes in 24 states and 28 cemeteries in 9 states.

Our funeral home operations are principally service businesses that generate revenue from sales of burial and cremation services and related merchandise, such as caskets and urns. Funeral services include consultation, the removal and preparation of remains, the sale of caskets and related funeral merchandise, the use of funeral home facilities for visitation and memorial services and transportation services. We provide funeral services and products on both an “atneed” (time of death) and “preneed” (planned prior to death) basis.

Our cemetery operations generate revenue primarily through sales of cemetery interment rights (primarily grave sites, lawn crypts, mausoleum spaces and niches), related cemetery merchandise (such as memorial markers, outer burial containers and monuments) and services (interments, inurnments and installation of cemetery merchandise). We provide cemetery services and products on both an atneed and preneed basis.

COMPANY DEVELOPMENTS

ATM Program

On May 6, 2026, the Company announced it had entered into an Equity Distribution Agreement with Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and Raymond James & Associates, Inc., as sales agents (together, the “Sales Agents”), with respect to an at-the-market equity offering program (the “ATM Program”) under which the Company may offer and sell, from time to time, shares of its common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $100.0 million (“Shares”) through or to the Sales Agents, as sales agents and/or principals. To date, we have not sold any Shares under our ATM Program.

Board of Directors

On May 12, 2026, upon the recommendation of the Corporate Governance Committee of the Company, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) unanimously elected Douglas Meehan to serve as the Chair of the Compensation Committee, effective on that date. Mr. Meehan has been a director of the Company since 2018. He succeeds Somer Webb, who continues to serve on the Board and as a member of the Audit, Compensation, and Corporate Governance Committees.

Macroeconomic and Inflationary Factors

We continue to monitor the macroeconomic, geopolitical, and certain policy factors and their potential impact, if any, on our business. During the first half of 2026, consumer discretionary spending has reflected mixed trends, with higher-income consumers appearing more resilient and moderate-income consumers exhibiting more cautious behavior, which could result in an overall reduction in consumer spending and demand for products and services. These trends continue to be influenced by moderating, but still elevated, inflation, evolving tariff and trade policies, geopolitical developments, and volatility in energy prices. Although certain indicators suggest that inflation has moderated, these factors continue to create uncertainty regarding future cost trends and broader economic conditions. Inflation and other macroeconomic conditions may negatively impact consumer discretionary spending, including the amount consumers are able to spend on our services. To date, these conditions have not materially impacted our business, and our industry has historically demonstrated resilience during similar adverse economic and market environments.

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

Overview

Our primary sources of liquidity and capital resources are internally generated cash flows from operating activities and availability under our Credit Facility.

We generate cash in our operations primarily from atneed sales and delivery of preneed sales. We also generate cash from earnings on our cemetery perpetual care trusts. Based on our recent operating results, current cash position and anticipated future cash flows, we do not anticipate any significant liquidity constraints in the foreseeable future. We have the ability to draw on our Credit Facility, as needed, subject to its customary terms and conditions. For additional details related to our debt and lease obligations, including our Credit Facility, Acquisition Debt and Senior Notes, refer to Notes 10 to our unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements contained in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

For 2026, our plan is to remain focused on executing our growth strategy and other strategic objectives. This includes prioritizing our capital allocation for potential strategic growth acquisitions, capital expenditures, debt repayments, the payment of dividends, and other general corporate purposes as allowed under our Credit Facility. We expect to fund these payments using cash on hand and borrowings under our Credit Facility. We believe that our existing and anticipated cash resources, including, as needed, additional borrowings or other financings that we may be able to obtain, will be sufficient to meet our anticipated working capital requirements, capital expenditures, scheduled debt payments, commitments, potential growth acquisitions, and dividends for the next 12 months, as well as our long-term financial obligations.

However, if our capital allocations and expenditures or acquisition plans change, we may need to access the capital markets, including, for example, through our ATM Program, or seek further borrowing capacity from our lenders to obtain additional funding and we may not be able to obtain such funding on terms and conditions that are acceptable to us. Further, to the extent operating cash flow or access to and cost of financing sources are materially different than expected, future liquidity may be adversely affected. For additional information regarding known material factors that could cause cash flow or access to and cost of finance sources to differ from our expectations, please read Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors”.

Cash Flows

We began 2026 with $1.7 million in cash and ended the quarter with $2.6 million in cash. As of June 30, 2026, we had borrowings of $124.0 million outstanding on our Credit Facility compared to $126.7 million as of December 31, 2025.

The following table sets forth the elements of cash flow (in thousands):

Operating Activities

For the six months ended June 30, 2026, cash provided by operating activities was $22.5 million compared to $21.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025. The growth was primarily driven by improvements in working capital.

Investing Activities

Our investing activities resulted in net cash outflows of $13.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared to net cash inflows of $12.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025, a decrease of $26.2 million, primarily as a result of the activity described below.

Acquisition and Divestiture Activity

During the six months ended June 30, 2026, we acquired one funeral home for $4.5 million.

During the six months ended June 30, 2026, we sold one funeral home for an aggregate of $0.3 million.

During the six months ended June 30, 2025, we sold two funeral homes and three cemeteries for an aggregate of $15.8 million. Additionally, we sold real property for $3.0 million.

Capital Expenditures

For the six months ended June 30, 2026, our capital expenditures (comprised of growth and maintenance spend) totaled $9.2 million compared to $6.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025, an increase of $3.2 million.

The following tables present our capital expenditures (in thousands):

Financing Activities

Our financing activities resulted in a net cash outflow of $8.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared to a net cash outflow of $34.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025, a decrease of $26.3 million.

During the six months ended June 30, 2026, we had net payments on our Credit Facility, acquisition debt, and finance leases of $3.0 million, net payments on our employee equity plans of $1.7 million, and paid dividends of $3.6 million.

During the six months ended June 30, 2025, we had net payments on our Credit Facility, acquisition debt, and finance leases of $24.3 million, net payments on our employee equity plans of $6.6 million, and paid dividends of $3.5 million.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Below are our consolidated financial highlights (in thousands except for volumes and averages):

Revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2026 increased $0.8 million, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2025, primarily due to an increase in acquisition and financial revenue that was partially offset by a decline in divested and comparable revenue. In our Funeral segment, we experienced a 4.7% increase in the average revenue per funeral contract, and a 21.1% increase in preneed insurance contracts sold; partially offset by a 4.0% decrease in funeral contract volume. In our Cemetery segment, we experienced a 5.0% increase in preneed sales production and a 17.3% increase in the average price per interment right (property) sold; partially offset by a 14.0% decrease in the number of preneed interment rights (property) sold.

Gross profit for the three months ended June 30, 2026 decreased $0.9 million compared to the three months ended June 30, 2025, primarily due to an increase in depreciation and amortization.

Net income for the three months ended June 30, 2026 increased $0.5 million, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2025, primarily due to a $0.9 million decrease in general and administrative expenses, a $0.4 million decrease in interest expense, and a $0.2 million decrease in income tax expense; partially offset by a $0.9 million decrease in gross profit contribution from our businesses.

Below are our consolidated financial highlights (in thousands except for volumes and averages):

Revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2026 decreased $0.1 million compared to the six months ended June 30, 2025, primarily due to a decrease in divested and comparable revenue offset by growth in acquisition and financial revenue. In our Funeral segment we experienced a 6.0% decrease in funeral contract volume which was partially offset by a 3.8% increase in the average revenue per funeral contract, and a 14.9% increase in preneed insurance contracts sold. In our Cemetery segment, we experienced an 8.9% decrease in the number of preneed interment rights (property) sold partially offset a 14.1% increase in the average price per interment right sold.

Gross profit for the six months ended June 30, 2026 decreased $0.1 million, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2025, primarily due to the decline in revenue described above partially offset by effective cost management.

Net income for the six months ended June 30, 2026 decreased $6.9 million, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2025, primarily due to a prior year net gain on divestitures, impairment charges, and sale of real property of $7.7 million; partially offset by a $0.8 million decrease in interest expense and a $0.7 million decrease in income tax expense.

Further discussion of revenue and the components of gross profit for our funeral home and cemetery segments is presented under “– Results of Operations.”

Further discussion of general, administrative and other expenses, interest expense, income taxes and other components of income and expenses are presented under “– Other Financial Statement Items.”

REPORTING AND NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

We also present our financial performance in our “Condensed Operating and Financial Trend Report” (“Trend Report”) as reported in our earnings release for the three months ended June 30, 2026, dated August 5, 2026, and discussed in the corresponding earnings conference call. This Trend Report is used as a supplemental financial statement by management and investors to compare our current financial performance with our previous results and with the performance of other companies. Additionally, management employs segment gross profit for product pricing evaluation and uses segment adjusted operating profit to assess each segment’s performance by comparing results. We do not intend for this information to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for other measures of performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. The Trend Report is a non-GAAP statement that also provides insight into underlying trends in our business.

Below is a reconciliation of gross profit (a GAAP financial measure) to adjusted operating profit (a non-GAAP financial measure) (in thousands):

(1) Adjusted operating profit is defined as gross profit plus cemetery property amortization, field depreciation expense, and regional and unallocated funeral and cemetery costs.

Our operations are reported in two business segments: Funeral Home and Cemetery. Below is a breakdown of adjusted operating profit (a non-GAAP financial measure) by segment (in thousands):

(1) Adjusted operating profit margin is defined as adjusted operating profit as a percentage of revenue.

Further discussion of adjusted operating profit for our funeral home and cemetery segments is presented under “Results of Operations.”

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following is a discussion of our results of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025.

The term “comparable” in the funeral home and cemetery segments refers to all funeral homes and cemeteries that we owned for the entire period beginning January 1, 2025 and ending June 30, 2026.

The term “acquired” refers to the funeral homes and cemeteries acquired as discussed in Note 11 to our unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements contained in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

The term “divested” refers to the funeral homes and cemeteries sold and/or merged as discussed in Note 1 to our unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements contained in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

The term “ancillary” in the funeral home segment represents our flower shop, monument business, pet cremation business, and online cremation businesses.

Cemetery property amortization, field depreciation expense, and regional and unallocated funeral and cemetery costs, are not included in adjusted operating profit, a non-GAAP financial measure. Adding back these items will result in gross profit, a GAAP financial measure.

Funeral Home Segment

The following table sets forth certain information regarding our revenue and adjusted operating profit for our funeral home operations (in thousands):

Funeral home comparable revenue decreased $1.4 million for the three months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2025. The decline in comparable revenue is primarily driven by a 3.5% decrease in comparable contract volume, which is partially offset by a 1.1% increase in the average revenue per contract excluding preneed funeral trust earnings. Average revenue per contract, including trust earnings, increased by 3.7%, primarily reflecting higher preneed interest recognized on fulfilled funeral and service and merchandise contracts.

Funeral home comparable adjusted operating profit for the three months ended June 30, 2026 decreased $1.3 million when compared to the same period in 2025. The decrease was primarily driven by an increase in operating expenses as a percentage of revenue, resulting in a 130 basis points decline in comparable adjusted operating profit margin to 36.5%. The increase in operating expenses was primarily attributable to higher salaries and benefits, together with higher general and administrative expenses, and promotional expenses.

Ancillary revenue decreased $0.1 million, while ancillary adjusted operating profit increased $0.1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2025. The decrease in ancillary revenue is primarily attributable to lower activity in our online cremation businesses. Despite the decline in revenue, ancillary adjusted operating profit improved due to lower operating expenses.

Other revenue and other adjusted operating profit, which consists of preneed funeral insurance commissions and earnings from delivered preneed funeral trust and insurance contracts, increased $1.8 million each, for the three months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the same period in 2025. This increase was primarily driven by higher funeral trust income and growth in general agency commission income earned on the sale of preneed insurance policies.

The following table sets forth certain information regarding our revenue and adjusted operating profit for our funeral home operations (in thousands):

Funeral home comparable revenue decreased $4.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2025. The decline in comparable revenue was primarily driven by a 4.7% decrease in comparable contract volume as well as a 1.4% increase in the average revenue per contract excluding preneed interest. The decline in contract volume primarily reflects a more normalized mortality environment compared to recent years, contributing to lower funeral case volumes across our comparable funeral homes.

Funeral home comparable adjusted operating profit for the six months ended June 30, 2026, decreased $3.8 million when compared to the same period in 2025. The decrease was primarily driven by an increase in operating expenses as a percentage of revenue, resulting in 180 basis points decline in comparable adjusted operating profit margin to 39.1%. The increase in operating expenses primarily reflects higher salaries and benefits, general and administrative expenses, promotional expenses, and facilities and grounds expenses.

Ancillary revenue decreased $0.2 million, while ancillary adjusted operating profit increased $0.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2025. The decrease in ancillary revenue is primarily due to a decline in our online cremation business. Despite the decline in revenue, ancillary adjusted operating profit increased due to lower operating expenses.

Other revenue and other adjusted operating profit, which consists of preneed funeral insurance commissions and earnings from delivered preneed funeral trust and insurance contracts, increased $2.5 million and $2.9 million, respectively, for the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2025. This increase was primarily driven by higher funeral trust income and growth in general agency commission income earned on the sale of preneed insurance policies.

Cemetery Segment

The following table sets forth certain information regarding our revenue and adjusted operating profit for our cemetery operations (in thousands):

Cemetery comparable revenue decreased $0.1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2025. The decrease was primarily driven by a 17.0% decrease in the number of preneed interment rights (property) sold, which was partially offset by a 17.9% increase in the average price per interment right sold. Cemetery comparable atneed revenue, which represents approximately 27.9% of our total operating revenue, decreased $0.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the same period in 2025, primarily due to a 6.1% decline in atneed recognized merchandise and service revenue and a 6.9% decrease in recognized atneed property revenue.

Cemetery comparable adjusted operating profit decreased $0.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2025. The decrease was primarily driven by a 0.4% increase in operating expense with the largest contributor in salaries and benefits, which increased 1.6% relative to recognized revenue. As a result, comparable operating profit margin decreased 50 basis points to 44.5%.

Other revenue and other adjusted operating profit decreased $0.6 million and $0.7 million, respectively for the three months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2025. The decline is primarily attributable to lower perpetual care trust fund earnings, while the greater decrease in adjusted operating profit reflects the timing of certain operating expenses recognized between periods.

The following table sets forth certain information regarding our revenue and adjusted operating profit for our cemetery operations (in thousands):

Cemetery comparable revenue increased $1.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2025. The increase was primarily driven by a 16.5% increase in the average price per preneed interment right sold, partially offset by a 12.7% decline in the number of preneed interment rights sold. Cemetery atneed revenue, which represents approximately 29.2% of our total operating revenue, decreased $0.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the same period of the prior year, primarily due to a 6.8% decline in atneed property sold across our cemetery portfolio.

Cemetery comparable adjusted operating profit increased $1.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2025. The increase was driven by a 0.9% decrease in operating expenses as a percentage of operating revenue, primarily reflecting lower promotional expenses and facilities and grounds insurance costs as a percentage of revenue. As a result, comparable operating profit margin increased 90 basis points to 44.0%.

Other revenue and other adjusted operating profit, which consist of preneed cemetery trust revenue and preneed cemetery finance charges, decreased $0.4 million and $0.5 million, respectively, for the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2025. The decline is primarily attributable to lower perpetual care trust fund earnings, while the greater decrease in adjusted operating profit reflects the timing of certain operating expenses recognized between periods.

Cemetery property amortization. Cemetery property amortization totaled $3.1 million and $5.1 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively, an increase of $0.9 million and $1.1 million compared to the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, respectively. The increases were primarily driven by a higher mix of mausoleum property sales, which carry significantly higher associated property costs than traditional cemetery property sales.

Field depreciation. Depreciation expense for our field businesses totaled $3.4 million and $6.8 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively, an increase of $0.1 million and $0.2 million compared to the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, respectively.

Regional and unallocated funeral and cemetery costs. Regional and unallocated funeral and cemetery costs consist of salaries and benefits for regional management, field incentive compensation, and other related costs for field infrastructure. Regional and unallocated funeral and cemetery costs totaled $3.7 million and $3.3 million, respectively, for the three months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2025, an increase of $0.4 million, primarily driven by an increase in salaries and benefits. For the six months ended June 30, 2026, Regional and unallocated funeral and cemetery costs were $8.0 million and $8.5 million, respectively, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2025, a decrease of $0.5 million, primarily driven by a decrease in leadership and development expenses offset by increases in salaries and benefits and transportation costs.

Other Financial Statement Items

General, administrative, and other. General, administrative, and other expenses, which include salaries and benefits and cash and equity incentive compensation for our Houston support office, totaled $11.0 million for the three months ended June 30, 2026, a decrease of $0.9 million compared to the same period in 2025, primarily driven by lower incentive compensation coupled with an increased focus on cost management across all aspects of our business. For the six months ended June 30, 2026, general, administrative, and other expenses totaled $24.1 million, an increase of $0.1 million compared to the six months ended June 30, 2025.

Net (gain) loss on divestitures and impairment charges. The components of Net (gain) loss on divestitures and impairment charges are as follows (in thousands):

During the three months ended June 30, 2026, we sold one funeral home for a loss of $47.0 thousand. We also recognized an impairment of $0.1 million and $0.3 million during the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively.

During the six months ended June 30, 2025, we sold two funeral homes and three cemeteries for a gain of $5.9 million. We also recognized an impairment of $0.1 million on land held for sale during the six months ended June 30, 2025.

Interest expense. Interest expense related to its respective debt arrangement is as follows (in thousands):

Other, net. During the six months ended June 30, 2025, we recorded a $2.0 million gain on the sale of other real property not used in business operations. We did not record any gain or loss activity during the six months ended June 30, 2026.

Income taxes. Income tax expense including discrete items totaled $4.9 million for the three months ended June 30, 2026, a decrease of $0.2 million compared to the three months ended June 30, 2025. Our effective tax was 28.5% and 30.4% for the three months ended June 30, 2026, respectively, primarily related to a decrease in non-deductible officer compensation.

Income tax expense including discrete items totaled $9.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, a decrease of $0.7 million compared to the six months ended June 30, 2025. Our effective tax rate was 27.5% and 24.2% for the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively, primarily related to a decrease in excess tax benefits recognized on the settlement of employee share-based awards and non-deductible officer compensation.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES

The preparation of our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses. Understanding our accounting policies and the extent to which our management uses judgment, assumptions and estimates in applying these policies is integral to understanding our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. Our critical accounting policies are more fully described in Part II, Item 8 “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” in Note 1 in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.

We have identified Business Combinations and Goodwill as those accounting policies that require significant judgments, assumptions and estimates and that have a significant impact on our financial condition and results of operations. These policies are considered critical because they may result in fluctuations in our reported results from period to period due to the significant judgments, estimates and assumptions about complex and inherently uncertain matters and because the use of different judgments, assumptions or estimates could have a material impact on our financial condition or results of operations. Actual results may differ from these estimates and such estimates may change if the underlying conditions or assumptions change. Historical performance should not be viewed as indicative of future performance because there can be no assurance the margins, operating income and net earnings, as a percentage of revenue, will be consistent from period to period. We evaluate our critical accounting estimates and judgments required by our policies on an ongoing basis and update them as appropriate based on changing conditions.

For quantitative and qualitative disclosures about market risk, see Part II, Item 7(a), “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk,” in our 2025 Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our exposure to market risk has not changed materially since December 31, 2025.

Management’s Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, including our principal executive and principal financial officers, has evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Exchange Act) as of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that the information required to be disclosed by us in reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC's rules and forms, and to ensure that such information is accumulated and communicated to management, including our principal executive and principal financial officers, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Based on such evaluation, our principal executive and principal financial officers have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective at June 30, 2026 and that the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q fairly present, in all material respects, our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows for the periods presented in conformity with US GAAP.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There was no change in our system of internal control over financial reporting (defined in Rules 13a-15(f) or 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the fiscal quarter covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

We are supplementing the risk factors set out under Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, with the updated risk factor set out below. Readers should carefully consider the risk factors discussed in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, which could materially affect our business, financial condition or future results. The risks described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, are not the only risks we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial also may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or future results.

Stockholders may experience future dilution as a result of future equity offerings and issuances.

In the future, we may offer additional shares of our common stock or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for our common stock, including under our ATM Program, and our then-existing stockholders may experience dilution as a result. The price per share at which we sell additional shares of our common stock, or securities convertible or exchangeable into common stock, in future transactions may be higher or lower than the price per share paid by our then current stockholders. Investors purchasing shares or other securities in the future could also have rights superior to existing stockholders.