Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Service Corporation International (SCI)

You're looking at Service Corporation International (SCI), the largest provider in the North American deathcare industry, and you want to know if their culture and strategy-their Mission, Vision, and Core Values-are as solid as their financials.

The company's trailing twelve-month (TTM) revenue as of November 2025 sits at a strong $4.29 Billion USD, and they've confirmed a 2025 diluted earnings per share (EPS) guidance range of $3.70 to $4.00, which suggests a stable, recession-resistant business model. But does a mission built around compassion and dignity actually drive that kind of performance, especially when they serve nearly 670,000 families annually? We need to see how the core values of Respect, Integrity, Service Excellence, and Enduring Relationships translate into the consistent growth that pushes cash flow guidance to between $880 million and $940 million this year.

How does a business in this sensitive sector map its guiding purpose-to compassionately support families and preserve memories-to a market-leading valuation? Let's break down the foundational principles that underpin their financial success.

Service Corporation International (SCI) Overview

You need a clear picture of Service Corporation International's foundation and its current financial standing, especially as it closes out the 2025 fiscal year. The quick takeaway is this: SCI is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the deathcare industry, built on decades of strategic acquisitions, and its latest numbers show a company still growing revenue and expanding margins, particularly in its pre-planning segment.

SCI's story starts small, back in 1962, with founder Robert L. Waltrip and a single family-owned funeral home in Houston, Texas. His vision was simple but powerful: consolidate the fragmented funeral and cemetery business to gain operating efficiency. That strategy worked, so the company spent decades expanding, creating a network of over 1,900 funeral home, cemetery, and crematory locations across North America.

Today, SCI offers a full range of services, from traditional funerals and cremations to cemetery property and pre-arranged funeral packages, often branded under names like Dignity Memorial and Neptune Society. This scale allows them to serve a diverse client base, from basic service offerings to high-end memorialization. By the end of the 2025 fiscal year, the company's Trailing Twelve Months (TTM) revenue stood at an impressive $4.29 Billion USD.

Q3 2025 Financial Performance: Pre-Need Sales Drive Growth

The latest Q3 2025 earnings, reported on October 29, 2025, show Service Corporation International is defintely executing its strategy well, turning market scale into concrete financial gains. The quarter's revenue hit $1.06 billion, which was a solid 4.4% jump year-over-year.

But the real story is where that growth came from. The core funeral business saw its comparable sales average grow by 3.1%, but the non-funeral home sales, which include ancillary products and services, surged by 13.4%. Here's the quick math: higher-margin sales are accelerating faster than the core service volume. That's a powerful mix.

The cemetery segment was a huge contributor, with preneed sales production-that's services and property sold in advance-increasing by a very strong 9.6%. This pre-planning focus is the long-term engine for SCI. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter reflected this operational strength, rising 10% year-over-year to $0.87. For the full year, SCI narrowed its 2025 earnings guidance to a range of $3.80 to $3.90 per share, reflecting confidence in their strategic direction.

• Q3 2025 Revenue: $1.06 billion.
• Adjusted EPS: $0.87, up 10%.
• Cemetery Preneed Sales Production: Up 9.6%.

Service Corporation International's Industry Leadership Position

Service Corporation International is not just a big player; it is North America's largest provider of deathcare products and services, a fact that gives it a significant competitive advantage. This scale allows for cost-sharing across locations-the cluster concept Waltrip envisioned-and provides a stable platform for growth and acquisitions. It's hard to compete with that kind of footprint.

The company leverages its leadership position by focusing heavily on the preneed market, essentially locking in future revenue today and creating a predictable cash flow stream that most competitors can't match. They've invested over $1.125 billion since 2010 in partnering with individual business owners, which solidifies their market dominance and continues to expand their network. If you want to understand how they maintain this position and what it means for investors, you should look into Exploring Service Corporation International (SCI) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Service Corporation International (SCI) Mission Statement

You're looking for the real bedrock of Service Corporation International (SCI), the largest provider of funeral, cremation, and cemetery services in North America. It's not just about their $4.29 Billion USD in Trailing Twelve Months (TTM) revenue as of November 2025; it's about the mission that drives that financial performance. The company's guiding purpose is clear: Service Corporation International is dedicated to compassionately supporting families at difficult times, celebrating the significance of lives that have been lived, and preserving memories that transcend generations, with dignity and honor. This mission isn't just a corporate plaque; it's the strategic filter for every investment and operational decision, especially in such a sensitive, high-touch business.

A mission statement like this is crucial because it maps the company's long-term goals to the emotional needs of its customers. It tells investors and families exactly what Service Corporation International is selling: not just services, but dignity and honor. This focus is what allows them to serve nearly 670,000 families each year, a massive scale built on individual trust. You can see how this foundation works in the company's history and structure at Service Corporation International (SCI): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money.

Core Component 1: Respect

The first pillar is Respect, and in this industry, that means a profound understanding of the family's situation. This core value dictates how Service Corporation International's nearly 25,000 associates interact with every client, ensuring cultural sensitivity and personal attention. It's not just about being polite; it's about honoring diverse traditions, from simple cremation services to elaborate, culturally-aligned services offered through brands like Funeraria del Angel® for the Hispanic population.

This commitment to respect translates directly into business stability. When a company handles the most defintely sensitive moments with care, it builds an enduring brand. For example, the focus on respectful, personalized service helped drive the comparable total funeral sales average to grow by 3.1% in the second quarter of 2025, showing that families are willing to pay for quality and personalization. Respect is the ultimate differentiator in a service-based business.

Core Component 2: Integrity

Integrity is the non-negotiable component, especially when dealing with pre-need sales (advance planning programs). This means transparent pricing, honest counsel, and ethical stewardship of the approximately $7 billion in trust funds the company manages for future services. For investors, integrity is a proxy for risk management.

When Service Corporation International reports its financials, the integrity of the underlying business model is what matters. The company's adjusted earnings per share (EPS) for the third quarter of 2025 was $0.87, surpassing analyst forecasts. This consistent financial outperformance is a direct result of a trustworthy, predictable revenue stream fueled by advance planning. Honestly, you can't generate that kind of steady growth without a reputation for being completely above board with your clients and their money.

Core Component 3: Service Excellence

The final core value, Service Excellence, is where the rubber meets the road operationally. This is the company's commitment to delivering a seamless, high-quality experience every single time, from the first call to the final memorial. Service Excellence is why the company has been certified by Great Place to Work® since 2017; they know that excellent service for families starts with a great workplace for associates.

The numbers show this dedication to quality is working. In the first quarter of 2025, comparable total funeral services performed grew by 1.8% year-over-year. Plus, the adjusted EPS for the first quarter of 2025 grew by 8% to $0.96, and the second quarter grew by 11% to $0.88 over the prior year quarters. Here's the quick math: higher service volume and higher average sales, combined with strong earnings growth, proves that families are choosing Service Corporation International for its consistent quality. That kind of growth is hard to achieve in a mature industry unless your service is truly excellent.

Service Corporation International (SCI) Vision Statement

You're looking for the foundational beliefs that drive Service Corporation International (SCI)-the largest deathcare provider in North America-and how those beliefs translate into their financial strategy. The direct takeaway is that SCI's vision centers on 'Celebrating life with dedication, excellence, and innovation,' which is the operational blueprint for their long-term growth target of 8% to 12% earnings per share (EPS) growth.

This isn't just corporate fluff; it's a strategic anchor for a company that expects to serve nearly 670,000 families annually, a number that will only grow as the Baby Boomer generation impacts volumes through 2029. The vision is what guides their capital deployment, especially in a market where they manage about 2,000 locations across the U.S. and Canada.

The Vision: Celebrating Life with Dedication, Excellence, and Innovation

The core of SCI's vision is simple: move the conversation from death to celebrating life. This focus on 'dedication, excellence, and innovation' is what allows them to manage a complex, high-touch business at scale. Think about the financial impact of that innovation: it's what drives the shift toward higher-margin, personalized memorial services and preneed sales (final-arrangement planning in advance).

For the 2025 fiscal year, this vision maps directly to their adjusted EPS guidance, which is projected to be between $3.70 and $4.00, with a midpoint of $3.85. This growth is fueled by strong performance in the funeral segment, where average revenue per funeral is increasing, plus growth in general agency revenue. The dedication part is what keeps client families coming back, which is defintely a critical factor in this industry.

The Guiding Purpose: Compassionately Supporting Families

SCI uses the term 'guiding purpose' for what most of us call the mission statement. Their purpose is to compassionately support families during their most difficult times, celebrate the significance of life, and preserve memories that transcend generations. This is an empathetic statement, but it's also a business model.

Here's the quick math: SCI's trailing twelve months (TTM) revenue for 2025 is approximately $4.29 billion USD. That revenue is generated by a network that includes about 1,500 funeral homes and 500 cemeteries. The mission ensures that each of those locations-from the flagship Dignity Memorial® brand to the affordable Neptune Society®-maintains a consistent standard of care. This consistency is how they maintain market share and drive growth in preneed sales, which are crucial for long-term revenue visibility. You can learn more about how this works on the financial side in Service Corporation International (SCI): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money.

Core Values: Respect, Integrity, Service Excellence, and Enduring Relationships

The four core values-Respect, Integrity, Service Excellence, and Enduring Relationships-are the operational commandments for SCI's nearly 25,000 associates. These values are especially important in a fragmented industry where trust is the ultimate currency. If you lose trust, you lose the business.

These values translate into specific business actions:

• Respect: Guides ethical conduct and a safe workplace.
• Integrity: Ensures transparent preneed contract handling.
• Service Excellence: Drives margin expansion through effective cost management and high service averages.
• Enduring Relationships: Focuses on preneed sales, which build long-term, sticky revenue.

The company's strategy of disciplined acquisitions, which has seen them invest $181 million in acquiring 26 funeral homes and 6 cemeteries in 2024, is only successful if they can quickly integrate the new locations into this values-driven culture. That's how they leverage their scale without sacrificing the local, compassionate service families expect.

Service Corporation International (SCI) Core Values

You're looking for a clear picture of what drives Service Corporation International (SCI) beyond the quarterly earnings report, and that's smart. The company's core values-Respect, Integrity, Service Excellence, and Enduring Relationships-aren't just corporate boilerplate; they are the operational framework that helped generate a $1.0742 billion revenue in the first quarter of 2025. I'll break down how these values translate into real-world performance and tangible actions.

The company's mission is to compassionately support families, celebrate the significance of lives, and preserve memories with dignity. That's a heavy lift, and it requires a rock-solid foundation. The vision, to be clear, is about celebrating life with dedication, excellence, and innovation. It's a simple, powerful one-liner.

Respect

Respect, for SCI, starts with their nearly 25,000 associates and extends to every family they serve across more than 1,900 locations. This value is fundamentally about recognizing the unique needs and dignity of every person, whether they are a client or an employee. It's how they manage the delicate balance of cultural sensitivity and business operations.

The company defintely shows this commitment through its focus on inclusion and opportunity, fostering a workplace where ideas are welcomed and efforts are recognized. For a business that handles over 600,000 families annually, respecting diverse traditions is a critical operational requirement. This value also underpins their efforts to offer specialized services, like the Funeraria del Angel® brand, which serves the growing Hispanic population with care that honors language and tradition.

• Welcome ideas and recognize efforts from all associates.
• Prioritize inclusion and opportunity across the workforce.
• Tailor services, like Funeraria del Angel®, to respect cultural needs.

Integrity

In the deathcare industry, integrity is the non-negotiable currency of trust. It means operating with the highest ethical standards, especially when dealing with pre-need sales (arrangements made in advance) and the substantial funds entrusted to the company. You must be transparent, honest, and accountable, period.

A concrete example of this commitment is the management of their pre-need funds (money set aside by clients for future services). SCI manages approximately $7 billion in trust funds, which requires rigorous financial oversight and regulatory compliance to ensure those funds are protected and available when needed. Furthermore, their recent financial moves, like securing a new $2.5 billion senior unsecured credit agreement in November 2025, including a $750 million term loan, demonstrate a disciplined approach to capital structure and financial reporting. This financial prudence is a direct reflection of their commitment to long-term stability for their stakeholders and clients.

Service Excellence

Service Excellence means going beyond the basic transaction to deliver an unparalleled level of care and professionalism, especially during a family's most difficult time. It's the reason why comparable total funeral services performed grew by 1.8% in the first quarter of 2025, with the average revenue per service increasing to $5,743.

This commitment is most visible in their support programs. Through their Dignity Memorial® brand, they offer a 24-hour Compassion Helpline that provides families with 13 months of free confidential phone access to licensed grief counselors. That's a significant, ongoing investment in post-service care that directly supports the community. Also, their financial performance, which saw adjusted earnings per share (EPS) grow 8% to $0.96 in Q1 2025, is a testament to the operational efficiency that Service Excellence enables. High-quality service drives both customer satisfaction and financial results.

Enduring Relationships

The final core value acknowledges that the relationship doesn't end after the service; it continues with the family and the wider community. This long-term view is what sustains the business and builds its reputation over generations. It's about being a partner in grief and a pillar in the community.

A clear demonstration of this is their long-standing community support. In November 2025, SCI announced a $250,000 grant to the National Alliance for Children's Grief (NACG), marking the fifth consecutive year of this partnership and bringing the total grant funding to $1.25 million. This action shows a sustained commitment to helping a vulnerable population-grieving children-long after the funeral service. They also partner with Donate Life America, contributing $250,000 annually, totaling $750,000 over three years, to raise awareness for organ donation. That's a tangible investment in the health and well-being of the communities where they operate.

If you want to dive deeper into the financial mechanics that allow for this level of investment in their values, you should read Breaking Down Service Corporation International (SCI) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors. It's important to see how strong adjusted operating cash flow-which hit $316.0 million in Q1 2025-funds these critical, value-driven initiatives.