EPS of $0.3256 beat estimates of $0.3065 and revenues of $117.38M beat estimates of $113.08M. Management is overall pleased with its results given the decrease in call volume due to a declining death rate. It continues to gain market share and sales grew by 8.2%, driven mostly by acquired operations. PLC plans on divesting certain legacy assets to Everstory Acquisition Portfolio, a transaction valued at $70M. This divestiture is expected to reduce PLC's leverage ratio and provide cash for deployment into high-growth markets. Its balance sheet slightly expanded for the quarter, and sales grew, but its margins declined due to increasing interest expenses and cost of sales. It has made some progress on its debt load, but its net debt/EBITDA ratio remains high at 3.9X. We feel it is a well-run business, and in a better market backdrop it will perform well. Its high debt load is certainly acting as a drag on its financial performance, and we feel a recovery is likely once interest rates peak or decline.
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