How Do They Make Money?

Service Corporation International (SCI) is North America's "largest provider of deathcare products and services."

Basically, they run funeral homes - and they're very good at it.

According to the 2023 annual report, SCI operates 1,483 funeral service locations and 489 cemeteries across the United States & Canada, with Canada representing around 5% of their revenue.

Specific services offered by the company include:

• Funeral services

• Cemetery services

• Crematory services

• "Other related businesses"

I've been reading Peter Lynch's One Up on Wall Street and the man absolutely loves boring, unattractive businesses like SCI. He likes deathcare because few people - even on Wall Street - like to think about death. It's also a stable, predictable business - death isn't going away any time soon.

One Up on Wall Street was published in 1989, when SCI's stock was peaking at around $10. Today, it's at around $82 - an all time high. The company has continued to slowly grow, expand, and acquire funeral homes across North America.