FA
First Advantage Corporation
FA's fundamentals are strong: its operating margin rose 11 points to 11% and revenue grew 18%. At 82x earnings, it's trading above its usual 62x. Analysts expect strong earnings growth.
FA Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Healthy | |
| Healthy | |
| Strong | |
| Weak |
FA's revenue, profitability and cash flow are currently healthy, but its balance sheet is weak.
FA PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | 15x | $21.36 | — |
| Cheap | 36x | $9.38 | -56% |
| Fair | 61x | $15.91 | -26% |
| Current | 82x | $21.36 | — |
| Expensive | 191x | $49.63 | +132% |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
FA's PE is in its expensive range at 82x. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 15x next year's earnings, in its cheap range.
FA Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Growth | |
| Improving | |
| Limited | |
| Moderate |
Analysts expect earnings and revenue growth for FA, with profitability improving.
FA Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $1.44 | +455% |
| Q3 2026 | $0.26 | +$1.16 |
| Q2 2026 | $0.15 | +$1.12 |
| Q1 2026 | $0.05 | +$1.01 |
| Q4 2025 | -$0.20 | +$0.54 |
| Q3 2025 | -$0.90 | -2350% |
| Q2 2025 | -$0.97 | -671% |
| Q1 2025 | -$0.96 | -517% |
| Q4 2024 | -$0.74 | -385% |
FA has returned to profit: it earned $0.26 per share over the past year, after losing money the year before.
FA Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $465.8M | +14% |
| Q2 2026 | $448.8M | +15% |
| Q1 2026 | $385.2M | +8.6% |
| Q4 2025 | $420M | +37% |
| Q3 2025 | $409.2M | +105% |
| Q2 2025 | $390.6M | +112% |
| Q1 2025 | $354.6M | +109% |
| Q4 2024 | $307.1M | +52% |
FA's revenue has grown year over year for eight quarters in a row: $466M last quarter, up 14% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 13% | +2.6 points |
| Q2 2026 | 13% | +3.1 points |
| Q1 2026 | 8.7% | +6.5 points |
| Q4 2025 | 11% | +37 points |
| Q3 2025 | 10% | +5.7 points |
| Q2 2025 | 9.7% | +4.3 points |
| Q1 2025 | 2.1% | +2.6 points |
| Q4 2024 | -26% | -41 points |
FA's operating margin was 13% last quarter, up 2.6 points from the same quarter a year ago.
FA Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $60.2M | -15% |
| Q2 2026 | $68.9M | +91% |
| Q1 2026 | $46.6M | +146% |
| Q4 2025 | $62.2M | +$148.2M |
| Q3 2025 | $71.2M | +65% |
| Q2 2025 | $36.1M | +15% |
| Q1 2025 | $19M | -50% |
| Q4 2024 | -$86M | -252% |
FA generated $238M in free cash flow over the past year, about six times what it generated the year before.
FA Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | +1.3% | +2.2M shares |
| 1 year | -0.1% | -114K shares |
| 3 years | +21% | +30.7M shares |
| 5 years | +15% | +23M shares |
| Available history | +192% | +115M shares |
FA has 175M diluted shares, about the same as a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $204,000 |
| Q2 2026 | $18.9M |
| Q1 2026 | $19.7M |
| Q4 2024 | — |
| Q3 2024 | — |
| Q2 2024 | — |
| Q1 2024 | — |
| Q4 2023 | $3M |
FA Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 5.7x | High |
| Q2 2026 | 6.2x | High |
| Q1 2026 | 6.8x | High |
| Q4 2025 | 7.5x | High |
| Q3 2025 | 15.7x | High |
| Q2 2025 | 25.9x | High |
| Q1 2025 | 55.8x | High |
| Q4 2024 | 133.3x | High |
FA's net debt is about 5.7 years of its operating earnings (EBITDA), down from 16 years a year ago.
FA Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 56.3 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 62.8 | Neutral |
FA's weekly RSI is 56 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 63 (neutral).
FA PE vs Industrials Sector
| Metric | FA | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 82x | 24x | 242% above |
| PE % | 68 | 62 | 6 pts above |
FA is trading at 82x earnings, a 242% premium to the Industrials sector's median of 24x.
FA Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $20.5 | 4.4% above |
| 20 week MA | $20.8 | 2.6% above |
| 50 week MA | $16.5 | 30% above |
| 100 week MA | $16.3 | 31% above |
| 200 week MA | $16.0 | 34% above |
FA is in an uptrend: it's above all five of its weekly moving averages, and 34% above its 200-week average.
FA Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | $20.5 | $18.2 | -12% |
| 2022 | $18.2 | $13.0 | -28% |
| 2023 | $13.0 | $16.6 | +27% |
| 2024 | $16.6 | $18.7 | +13% |
| 2025 | $18.7 | $15.5 | -17% |
| 2026 YTD | $15.5 | $21.4 | +38% |
FA is up 38% so far in 2026, after finishing lower in three of the previous five years.