And we still have a little bit of a hangover, as you think about the pull-forward effect. And so I think, it can put a little bit of pressure but a tiny bit of pressure on that lead source. The good news is, our sales teams are overcoming that with increased digital leads, better follow-ups, great products in our cemeteries, that they’re available to sell. So we feel great about the momentum. It’s still the first quarter, so we don’t want to spike the ball on the — but I feel confident about where we’re headed and the rest of 2024 and maybe even more confident about 2025 and 2026.
Q – Parker Snure: Okay. And then just any updated thoughts on the FTC funeral rule? Any updated thoughts on timing and when we might see that?
Eric Tanzberger: Hi, Parker. It’s Eric. No, we really don’t have any updated thoughts. I mean we’ve been very consistent with it that, we continue to have a very good relationship with the staff of the FTC and helpful to work through it. But we’ve submitted stuff all the way back in October of 2023. It was kind of the official last thing, that we have done with them. And I think the whole industry is waiting around for finalization. The important thing to remember though is, we don’t think there’s anything that’s coming out of the rule in our vision at least, that’s going to have a material effect to our company one way or the other. And we think ultimately, it’s a good role for the industry, but nothing that’s going to materially move any of our projections from a financial impact or anything.
Q – Parker Snure: All right. Great. Thanks so much and congrats, Debbie.
Operator: Our next question comes from Joanna Gajuk of Bank of America. Go ahead, please.
Q – Joanna Gajuk: Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking the questions here. There is a couple of follow-ups. So I guess the — not the last topic, but the one before around the cementery pre-need [ph] production. It sounds like it’s actually the large sales, but also core was up — so did I really — right that core was up mostly on pricing? And I guess what gives you the ability to drive pricing I guess while inflation and I guess interest rates so high. So can you kind of talk about maybe some more details in terms of the consumer I guess the perception and demand in both I guess core and also large cells.
Tom Ryan: Again like I said the large sales continue to go at a very nice clip. I mean if you look back in time, they’re significantly higher than they were just five to six years ago. And a lot of that is again back to the product that we’re able to put in front in our bills force ability to close. And so if you think about that high-end sale — it’s depending on seasonality, I think second quarter is typically stronger in fourth quarter. We’re going to do about probably $40 million to $50 million a quarter. I mean that’s kind of the pace. And again that I think is more contingent with where the economy is, where the stock market is because those buyers are typically not borrowing money to buy them. They’re putting cash and they either feel good about it or they don’t.
That’s there and it’s been very consistent and we feel good about the temperature of that customer. On the other end, we saw a great activity. Again our activity for the quarter was relatively flat from a unit’s perspective. But keep in mind I think we’re somewhere around 10% or 11% higher than we were in 2019. So, we’re at elevated levels of volume. And you’re right most of the increase in the core is related to average. But remember Joanna you know this from being in a lot of our cemeteries and seeing it, some of that is inflationary pricing, but not an insignificant portion of that is a what I’ll call a trade up. And what that is by investing in different tiers in the cemetery, you’re seeing customers come in and buying an enhanced product where we spent some money, made a better product, and people are trading from this level of product of one and that has an effect on average sales.
So, it’s really a combination of things that we think will continue inflationary pricing and enhanced offerings in our cemeteries which we continue to invest at the levels of $100 million to $130 million a year in bringing on new inventory property.
Joanna Gajuk: No exactly. Yes, that’s what I was sensing. I mean thank you for the 10%, 11% higher because I mean I don’t have the breakdown to large versus core, but just looking at the pretty sales production dollars it’s like a 9% CAGR versus first quarter of 2019. So, to me, it sounds like, yes, there’s definitely demand. There’s definitely demand and people willing to spend money. So, I cut that’s good there for the business. And if I may a couple of other follow-ups. So, on your comments around the deal spending for the year, it sounds like your confidence increase and you think you’re going to be at the higher. Does this mean anything meaningful for the guidance for you here in terms of accretion from these deals and moving from what it to higher or I guess that’s maybe not big enough to make to move a needle for the year?
Tom Ryan: Yes, Joanna, you’re right. While we’re excited about it, it’s not going to have a material impact on our guidance. Obviously, gives us a little bit more confidence in achieving the range. And like normal, it’s the first quarter of the year. I think as we get through half year, we’ll have a better idea of that pipeline, we’ll have a better idea of sales. It’s just three months is not a year.
Joanna Gajuk: And maybe you can also give us a sense of the assets that were acquired in the quarter and also what’s in the pipeline?
Tom Ryan: I think Eric mentioned that the assets we’ve got in the first quarter were predominantly funeral homes and cremation. I don’t think we had these cemeteries. As you think about the pipeline — and again, I always hesitate to say anything until they’re closed. But we do have a few deals that are under letter of recent so in the process of closing. And we also have I’d say some deals that are very close to getting under letter of intent. And it’s a nice mix of both funeral and I think we’ve got some investments also in cemeteries that hopefully will be coming online. So, it’s a multitude of deals and some will close and some won’t. But I’d say based on the level of activity, we feel like Eric said pretty confident in achieving the range and probably towards the high end of the range.
