TSLA - Matthews International: Investigating Contrarian Potential In Unusual Conglomerate

2024-07-07 13:00:00 ET

Summary

• Matthews International is a conglomerate with Memorialization, Brand Solutions, and Industrial Technologies segments.
• The company faces challenges with debt levels and recent customer delays in its smaller segments.
• There's potential for a near-term rebound in shares of MATW, especially from any further progress in Fed Rate cuts, but otherwise I'm waiting on this name until the businesses improve.

I recently came across Matthews International ( MATW ) as I was investigating the funeral services business. I was refamiliarizing myself with Service Corporation International ( SCI ) as a potential defensive play. SCI is, in my understanding, not just the largest funeral home company in the United States, but the world. Service Corp was one of the 3 defensive plays I covered in this recent article .

With death rates forecast to continue growing, and the presumed pricing power in this industry even in inflationary times, the funeral services industry is one which interests me as an investor, but not so much as a client, of course....

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