What's In Store For Service Corporation's (SCI) Q3 Earnings?

Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI) is scheduled to release third-quarter 2019 results on Oct 31. This funeral services company’s earnings were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last reported quarter. Further, it has a mixed earnings surprise record for the trailing four quarters.

Let’s see what’s in store for the company this time around.

What to Expect?

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for third-quarter earnings has been stable over the past 30 days at 38 cents, which suggests an increase of 8.6% from the year-ago period’s reported figure. The consensus mark for revenues is $785 million, indicating a marginal increase of 0.8% from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.

Factors at Play

Favorable preneed sales are likely to reflect on Service Corporation’s revenues in the third quarter. To this end, the use of the company’s cemetery merchandise and services, including markers and bases, flowers and floral placements, graveside services, and outer burial containers, among others, has been a key catalyst.

Apart from this, Service Corporation is making technological advancements to better present its products and services to consumers. These endeavors along with an aging baby boomer population are likely to have boosted the company’s revenues in the quarter under review. Additionally, the company’s investments in the expansion of funeral homes are expected to have yielded positive results.

Further, in the last quarter earnings call, management guided double-digit earnings per share growth for the second half of 2019, backed by higher profits at the funeral segment along with lower general and administrative costs.

What the Zacks Model Unveils

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Service Corporation this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that’s not the case here. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Although Service Corporation carries a Zacks Rank #3, its Earnings ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult.

Stocks With Favorable Combination

Here are some companies you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) has an Earnings ESP of +0.93% and Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

TreeHouse Foods (NYSE:THS) has an Earnings ESP of +1.01% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Hain Celestial (NASDAQ:HAIN) has an Earnings ESP of +11.11% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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