Carriage Services Inc

Carriage Services announced its second quarter 2026 financial results and reaffirmed its full-year adjusted diluted earnings per share midpoint guidance. Total revenue for the quarter was $102.9 million, a 0.8% increase from the prior year period, while GAAP net income rose 4.5% to $12.3 million and GAAP diluted earnings per share reached $0.77 compared with $0.74 a year ago. Adjusted consolidated EBITDA grew 3.1% to $33.3 million, with the adjusted EBITDA margin expanding 70 basis points to 32.3%, and adjusted diluted earnings per share came in at $0.78 versus $0.74 in the second quarter of 2025. The company highlighted a 21.1% increase in insurance-funded preneed funeral contracts sold and a 17.3% rise in the consolidated average price per preneed interment right sold, which helped offset a 3.5% decline in at-need funeral volume driven by lower national mortality trends. Carriage Services also completed the strategic acquisition of one funeral home during the quarter while maintaining its leverage ratio at 4.0 times, and it updated its full-year 2026 revenue outlook to a range of $435 million to $445 million, reflecting revised mortality assumptions and acquisition timing, while keeping its adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance at $3.35 to $3.55.

Zacks Investment Research recommends four consumer staples stocks as a defensive play amid declining consumer confidence and market volatility. Consumer confidence fell to 90.8 in July from an upwardly revised 92.2 a month earlier, according to the Conference Board, missing the consensus estimate of 92.3. The Present Situation Index declined 3.6 points to 114.9, marking its third straight monthly drop, while the Expectations Index held at 74.7. The recommended stocks are The Vita Coco Company, The Coca-Cola Company, John Wiley & Sons, and Carriage Services, all of which have seen positive earnings estimate revisions over the past 90 days.

Carriage Services announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of 11.25 cents per share. The dividend is payable on September 1, 2026, to common share record holders as of August 3, 2026. Carriage Services is a leading provider of funeral and cemetery services and merchandise in the United States, operating 155 funeral homes in 24 states and 28 cemeteries in 9 states as of June 30, 2026.

EZCORP, Carriage Services, and York Water are highlighted as businesses that generate steady demand regardless of economic conditions, making them candidates to hold even during a stock market sell-off. EZCORP operates pawn shops and has expanded to roughly 1,500 stores in 16 countries after acquiring the 105-store Founders One chain, while also launching an online car title loan platform in Texas; its stock has climbed about 150% over the past year, partly driven by record gold prices above $5,000 an ounce that boosted scrap margins from 22% to 38%. Carriage Services owns funeral homes and cemeteries, recently entered the Knoxville market with an acquisition, and secured a $60 million credit facility for further deals, though it carries meaningful debt. York Water, which has paid a dividend every year since 1816, raised roughly $48 million in a stock offering to fund capital projects and acquisitions of small water and wastewater systems in Pennsylvania, but as a regulated utility its returns are capped and shares can be sensitive to interest rates.