Stewart Enterprises, Inc. (STEI: chart), a provider of funeral and cemetery products said revenue for the fiscal first quarter ended January 2008 revenue increased $1.3 million, or 1.8% to $73.4 million.

The cremation rate for same-store operations was 40.1% for the first quarter of 2008 compared to 38.9% for the first quarter of 2007. Cemetery revenue decreased $2.9 million or 4.9% to $56.8 million for the first quarter of 2008.

Diluted earnings per common share were $8.9 million or $0.09 per share, compared to $11.93 million or $0.11 per share in the same quarter last year.

Thomas J. Crawford, President and Chief Executive Officer ``While the overall first quarter performance did not meet our financial expectations, we were encouraged by the performance of our funeral operations with funeral revenue increasing $1.3 million. We maintained our average revenue per funeral while growing same-store calls 2.2% in the face of industry data that indicates declining deaths in our markets.”

Cemetery revenue decreased $2.9 million, or 4.9%, to $56.8 million for the first quarter of 2008. This decrease is due to a $1.7 million, or 5.9%, decrease in gross cemetery property sales and a $1.5 million decrease in construction on various cemetery projects. The Company currently has a backlog of approximately $24 million of cemetery property related items.

For the quarter ended January 31, 2008, the Company''s preneed funeral and cemetery merchandise trust funds experienced a total return of 7.3%, and its perpetual care trust funds experienced a total return of 4.2%.

Stewart Enterprises (STEI: chart) stock rose 10 cents to $5.73.