Relatively predictable, long-term market conditions benefiting from an aging baby boomer population; and Benefits from scale efficiencies as a fairly large provider of funeral, cremation and cemetery services and merchandise. Narrow focus in the highly fragmented and mature death care industry, with limited options to meaningfully expand the market for death care services and merchandise; Rising consumer demand for cremation services that provide less revenue than traditional funeral services; and Large debt burden. The ratings on Houston-based Carriage Services Inc. reflect Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' expectation for low-single-digit revenue growth, considering the death care industry's slow growth and increasingly cost-conscious consumers. We expect same-store cemetery and funeral sales to be flat, because of ongoing trends in the mature death
