Stocks · Industrials · Specialty Business Services
First Advantage Corporation FA
$18.09 -1.36% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $3.10B
Strong growth
Next earnings report: Nov 5, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Operating margin widened to 10.8% from -2.1% a year earlier.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $1.66B, up 32.9% from a year earlier, slowing from 53.5% a quarter earlier.
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 6 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +16.6%).
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Industrials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 12%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 3%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 11%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 4%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 38%
- Gross marginTop 32%
- Operating marginTop 35%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 7%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 30%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 20%
- Interest coverBottom 34%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 37%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 16%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 24%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 37%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 42%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 30%
- 6-month returnTop 9%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 42%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 44%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 42%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 25%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 20%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 50%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 40%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 27%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 39%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 31%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 20%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 53.5% | 32.9% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 46.5% | 36.3% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | -2.1% | 10.8% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 2.0% | 14.5% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 32.9% | 53.5% | ↓ | Top 12% |
| Gross margin | 36.3% | 46.5% | ↓ | Top 32% |
| Operating margin | 10.8% | -2.1% | ↑ | Top 35% |
| Net margin | 1.5% | -12.0% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 14.5% | 2.0% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 3.4% | — | Bottom 38% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 24.8% | — | Top 11% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 3.00×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -6.3%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.4%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -27.4 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 4.22×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 1.3×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 1.04%
- Shareholder yield
- 1.04%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -1.1%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +6.0%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 6
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 7 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +16.6%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +10.6%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $25.00
- Target vs current price
- +38.2%
- Analysts with a rating
- 12
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 58%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | +20.1% | +17.3% | +2.1% | -2.4% | — |
| May 7, 2026 | +23.8% | +23.1% | +22.5% | +23.2% | +59.3% |
| Feb 26, 2026 | +15.4% | +22.8% | +28.4% | +18.0% | +58.0% |
| Nov 6, 2025 | +7.1% | +6.7% | +3.2% | +7.4% | -2.6% |
| Aug 7, 2025 | +12.5% | +8.0% | +6.4% | -1.4% | -20.0% |
| May 8, 2025 | +30.8% | +19.1% | +19.4% | +21.1% | +11.8% |
| Feb 27, 2025 | -25.0% | -12.4% | -24.5% | -23.5% | -6.1% |
| Nov 12, 2024 | +2.7% | +0.1% | -6.7% | +5.8% | +4.2% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | $0.35 | $0.29 | +20.1% | $448.8M |
| May 7, 2026 | $0.26 | $0.21 | +23.8% | $385.2M |
| Feb 26, 2026 | $0.30 | $0.26 | +15.4% | $420.0M |
| Nov 6, 2025 | $0.30 | $0.28 | +7.1% | $409.2M |
| Aug 7, 2025 | $0.27 | $0.24 | +12.5% | $390.6M |
| May 8, 2025 | $0.17 | $0.13 | +30.8% | $354.6M |
| Feb 27, 2025 | $0.18 | $0.24 | -25.0% | $307.1M |
| Nov 12, 2024 | $0.26 | $0.25 | +2.7% | $199.1M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 123.1× | 67.6× | 69th | Bottom 37% |
| P/E (forward) | 14.2× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 11.5× | — | — | Top 24% |
| EV / Sales | 2.95× | — | — | Bottom 37% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 7.76% | — | — | Top 16% |
| Earnings yield | 0.81% | — | — | Bottom 37% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 31.9× – 322.9× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 103
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +0.3%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +4.2%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -12.5%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +14.0%
- RSI (14)
- 35.0
- Relative volume
- 1.10×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 61.8%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 85th percentile · High for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.36
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.38
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -25.0%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -55.9%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 10, 2021 | Feb 23, 2026 | -62.9% | 1116 days | Not yet recovered |
| Jun 28, 2021 | Aug 9, 2021 | -14.1% | 29 days | 3 days (Aug 12, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $3.10B
- P/E (TTM)
- 123.1
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $0.15
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.66B
- 52-week range
- $8.82 – $25.15
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $712.3M | $810.0M | $763.8M | $860.2M | $1.57B |
| Gross profit | $360.1M | $401.1M | $377.0M | $411.3M | $470.5M |
| Operating income | $63.8M | $94.3M | $81.5M | -$62.4M | $141.2M |
| Net income | $16.1M | $64.6M | $37.3M | -$110.3M | -$34.8M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.11 | $0.43 | $0.26 | -$0.74 | -$0.20 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $199.1M | $307.1M | $354.6M | $390.6M | $409.2M | $420.0M | $385.2M | $448.8M |
| Net income | -$8.9M | -$100.4M | -$41.2M | $308,000 | $2.6M | $3.5M | $2.2M | $16.9M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.06 | -$0.62 | -$0.24 | $0.00 | $0.01 | $0.02 | $0.01 | $0.10 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $148.7M | $212.8M | $162.8M | $28.2M | $195.1M |
| Capital expenditure | -$23.8M | -$28.5M | -$27.7M | -$1.7M | -$54.3M |
| Free cash flow | $124.9M | $184.2M | $135.1M | $26.5M | $140.9M |
| Dividends paid | -$313,000 | $0 | -$217.7M | -$255,000 | -$133,000 |
| Net share buybacks | $320.8M | -$60.5M | -$59.0M | $14.7M | $3.8M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $237.9M
- Total assets
- $3.75B
- Total liabilities
- $2.45B
- Total debt
- $2.04B
- Net debt
- $1.80B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.29B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 18, 2023 | $1.50 | Aug 31, 2023 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 10,255,273
- Days to cover
- 7.66
- Change vs previous report
- -1.1%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.