"These Death Stocks are Barely Clinging to Life"

"These Death Stocks are Barely Clinging to Life" 

By Benen Ling

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"Specific Stocks"

"StoneMor (STON)"

"It's primarily a cemetery company, with an 80/20 split of cemeteries and funeral homes. It's the only stock with a major cemetery focus. Revenues have generally declined over last five years, as you would expect, while the company has tried to mask this with a series of acquisitions. It has only acquired an average of five cemeteries per year over the last 3 years, but it used to be much more active in rolling-up cemeteries and as such as a debt load reflecting that.

The debt load has gotten so onerous that earlier this year StoneMor breached debt covenants. Lenders have waived the breach for now, and are currently negotiating refinancing, but that may merely be delaying the inevitable. Free cash flow is weak, with most of the firm's cash flow going to interest payments. To make matter worse, the acquisitions that StoneMor spent so much on in the first place are underperforming. It hasn't made a profit in eight years and is pretty much a classic case of an over-acquisitive firm that's now overexposed to debt and drowning in interest payments. Some have taken the fact that Axar Capital (the largest equity owner) has injected a $35 million loan into the company as proof that StoneMor is capable of pulling off a turnaround. I would caution against that line of thought. Axar Capital is injecting cash into StoneMor because it is their largest equity holding, per their Form 13-F. I firmly believe that Axar is throwing good money after bad here.

Despite the serious decline in the stock, StoneMor could be going to zero. In late 2018, a Bloomberg story broke about StoneMor burying prepaid customers' graves before they died because doing so would allow the company to tap customers' pre-need trust accounts. Basically, they buried empty graves because it would allow the company to legally siphon off what its customers had paid in advance.

StoneMor is a classic short. It has weak free cash flow that's choked by debt, has had its reputation trashed by its own actions and is on the wrong side of the secular trend towards cremation in the funeral industry. Their bonds reflect this, with the 2021 bond yielding 14.3%. When looking for short sale candidates, experienced stock-pickers look for the most exposed, overleveraged candidates, and StoneMor certainly fits those characteristics."

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StoneMor

StoneMor owned Ohio Cemeteries

Announcing two upcoming hands-on cemetery preservation work sessions at the Old Burying Ground in Greenfield, Highland County, Ohio - Tuesday, July 9th and Monday, July15th, 2019 - Start times for each day at 8:00a.m.

The Greenfield Historical Society has announced it will be holding two hands-on cemetery preservation work sessions at the town's historic early pioneer cemetery - The Old Burying Ground. 

The dates are:
Tuesday, July 9th, 2019

& 

Monday, July 15, 2019

Both work sessions begin at 8:00a.m.

and go as long as possible!

 

Map for the Old Burying Ground

from "Find A Grave"

Here is a link to the Greenfield Historical Society's 

"I want to help" Page:
http://greenfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ghs-Volunteer.html

You can also contact the Old Burying Ground Project Team via email at:

jfking@earthlink.net

Here is a "Look Back" at the May 28, 2019 volunteer session at the Old Burying Ground. 

THANK YOU! 

"107 names added to Cleveland’s iconic Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument"

The above link is to the WKYC-TV Channel 3 station in Cleveland and their report covering the event today of the addition of 107 names added to the Soliders' and Sailors' monument in downtown Cleveland. 

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From the media press release about this event.:

"The Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, which commemorates the Civil War and honors the citizens of Cuyahoga County who fought and worked for the Union will hold a special ceremony on Wednesday, June 19 at 11 a.m. 

At that time, the Monument Commission will announce the addition of 107 names of United States Colored Troop Veterans to the Monument’s Roll of Honor to the 9,000 names already enshrined. All 107 were from, or enlisted, in Cuyahoga County and more than 100 of these were African-American veterans. The name of each newly added honoree will be read aloud at the ceremony. 

The date June 19 was specifically chosen as it is also known as Juneteenth – or Juneteenth Independence Day, or Freedom Day – a holiday that commemorates the June 19, 1865 announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. state of Texas, and more generally, the emancipation of enslaved African Americans throughout the former Confederate States of America.

Today’s significant addition to the Monument’s Roll of Honor is the result of nearly 20 years of painstaking historical research and verification work using modern methods. It began in 2002 with high school history teacher Paul LaRue of Washington Court House, Ohio and Mr. LaRue’s Advanced Placement History Class students. 

One of the Class’s projects involved research on seven USCT veterans buried in a Washington Court House cemetery. Their work led to new government issued military headstones to be installed on the graves, rightfully honoring those who fought for our country. This success led the Class to continue its research on burials of other USCT veterans within the State of Ohio. 

Their work came to the attention of the Governor’s office, which issued an executive order to provide copies of Ohio Civil War enlistment records to the Class. 

As the Class continued its work, the names of several veterans from Cuyahoga County were uncovered. Jerry Young – a Monument volunteer at the time (and now a Commissioner of the Monument) – learned of the Class’s work in 2009. Mr. LaRue graciously offered the use of the microfilmed records to the Monument for continued research. 

The Monument formed a committee for this work. For nearly a decade, Mr. Young; Committee Chair Jon Silvis, and Executive Director Tim Daley have conducted extensive research on behalf of the Monument Commission that has included factchecking; verification and re-verification. 

Today’s ceremony is the culmination of the many years of hard work and dedication of an educator; his students; the Monument’s historians and Commission; the State of Ohio and Cuyahoga County. Today we add the names of 107 American heroes to their rightful place on the Roll of Honor of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument."

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Links about Mr. Paul LaRue:
Advisory Council on Hisoric Preservation

House Committee on Veterans Affairs

Preservation on a Shoestring

Gist Settlement - Ohio Valley Archaeology, Inc.