Topic: How To Invest

Q: Hello, Pat. I have held Park Lawn Corp. for the past year. What are you views on this company in light of the COVID-19 environment? Thank you.

Article Excerpt

A: Park Lawn Corporation, $19.98, symbol PLC on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 28.9 million; Market cap: $581.0 million; www.parklawncorp.com), is a funeral home, cemetery, and cremation services provider with operations throughout North America. The company owns and operates 114 cemeteries, 39 crematoriums, and 109 funeral homes; it also sells cemetery lots, crypts, niches, monuments, caskets, urns, and funeral services. It is the only Canadian publicly traded company in the funeral services industry. Park Lawn has expanded rapidly from the six Toronto cemetery properties it held in 2013. Most of that growth has come from acquisitions—first in Canada and then in the U.S. with its 2016 purchase of Midwest Memorial Group. The Midwest deal, alone. added 28 cemeteries. In 2018, the company’s spending on acquisitions rose to $244 million. Park Lawn spent another $181 million in 2019, mainly in the U.S. That same year, 84% of its revenue came from the U.S., with the remaining 16% from Canada. Park Lawn’s acquisitions resulted in a 766.3% jump…