Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) shares rose 5% on Thursday following the launch of analyst coverage by Raymond James, which assigned an Outperform rating and set a price target of $60.
The upbeat market response came as Parker Snure described the company as “an interesting turnaround story under the new management team” in his initiation note. The target price implies notable upside from current levels.
Raymond James highlighted several growth drivers for Carriage Services, including more efficient operations, a stronger emphasis on pre-need services, and improvements to the balance sheet. The firm projects EBITDA growth accelerating from 4.7% in 2025 to 6.3% in 2026, reaching 7.7% in 2027.
Snure noted that Carriage Services currently trades at a discount compared to larger rival Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI), with a roughly 3.5x EBITDA multiple difference. The analyst believes that this gap could narrow as the company continues to deliver consistent quarterly performance.
The bank also pointed to potential for renewed mergers and acquisitions activity once Carriage Services lowers its current leverage ratio of around 4x. Enhanced balance sheet metrics could give the company the flexibility to pursue acquisitions in the fragmented funeral services sector.
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