First Advantage
FA on Nasdaq. Computer processing & data preparation. Market value $3.2bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Not a fit for our list right now
Why it could be worth it
See Technology stocks that passed both tests
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $6.15 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 28.0 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 4 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 66 of 100. Price score: 41 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$18.49 a share, 110% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $8.82 to $25.15.
Pays no dividend
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $712m | $810m | $764m | $860m | $1.6bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 9.0% | 11.6% | 10.7% | -7.3% | 8.4% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 0.49 | 0.49 | 0.62 | 1.66 | 1.61 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.15bn | 0.15bn | 0.17bn | 0.17bn | 0.17bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive4 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)5 of 8 checks we could run
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt1.61× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsStrong, 21.9% a year
- Buying back its own sharesNo, 13% more shares since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $449 million last quarter, up 15% on a year ago.
- Profit: $17 million, up 5392% on a year ago.
- It keeps 11 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, after losing 2 cents a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $195 million. A year earlier it spent $28 million more than it brought in.
- 1% fewer shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit more of the company.
- Debt is $1.8 billion more than cash, down from $2 billion a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $199m |
| December 2024 | $307m |
| March 2025 | $355m |
| June 2025 | $391m |
| September 2025 | $409m |
| December 2025 | $420m |
| March 2026 | $385m |
| June 2026 | $449m |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | -$9m |
| December 2024 | -$100m |
| March 2025 | -$41m |
| June 2025 | $308,000 |
| September 2025 | $3m |
| December 2025 | $3m |
| March 2026 | $2m |
| June 2026 | $17m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 26 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 5 November 2026
Who owns it
2 long-term investors we follow own it, down from 3 last quarter. 179 funds in all.
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston PartnersBoston Partners team | $59m | <0.1% | Added |
| Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt | $889,305 | <0.1% | Added |
Sold out this quarter
Largest holders overall
- Silver Lake Group, L.L.C.$1.6bn
- Price T Rowe Associates$284mAdded
- BlackRock$218mAdded
- Capital World Investors$193mAdded
- FMR$138mCut
- Alliancebernstein L.P.$90mCut
- CAT Rock Capital Management LP$76m
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$74mAdded
- Bamco$63mCut
- Vanguard Capital Management$62m
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
4 investors own more than 5%.
- T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.Passive investor9.2%+1.5 ptsSince 30 June 2026
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor6.9%Since 30 June 2026
- Capital World InvestorsPassive investor6.2%+1.0 ptsSince 30 June 2026
- FMR LLCPassive investorat least 5.2%+0.5 pts(filed with 1 related holder)Since 31 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. Passive investor | 9.2%+1.5 pts | 30 June 2026 | |
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 6.9% | 30 June 2026 | |
Capital World Investors Passive investor | 6.2%+1.0 pts | 30 June 2026 | |
FMR LLC Passive investor | at least 5.2%+0.5 pts (filed with 1 related holder) | 31 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 1 insider bought $106,740 of shares on the open market. 4 sold $276m, $889,173 of it under preset trading plans.
- SLTA V (GP), L.L.C.DirectorSold
- Date
- 12 August 2026
- Shares
- 12,500,000
- Price
- $22.02
- Value
- $275m
- Clark James LindseyDirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 8 June 2026
- Shares
- 4,921
- Price
- $15.69
- Value
- $77,210
- Jardine Bret TChief Legal OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 1 June 2026
- Shares
- 25,000
- Price
- $16.71
- Value
- $417,750
- Jardine Bret TChief Legal OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 12 May 2026
- Shares
- 682
- Price
- $16.12
- Value
- $10,994
- Smith Joelle MPresidentSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 7 May 2026
- Shares
- 23,334
- Price
- $15.00
- Value
- $350,010
- Jardine Bret TChief Legal OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 5 March 2026
- Shares
- 600
- Price
- $12.09
- Value
- $7,254
- Jardine Bret TChief Legal OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 4 March 2026
- Shares
- 1,090
- Price
- $12.32
- Value
- $13,429
- Nairne DouglasGlobal Chief Operating OfficerBought
- Date
- 2 March 2026
- Shares
- 9,000
- Price
- $11.86
- Value
- $106,740
- Jardine Bret TChief Legal OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 17 November 2025
- Shares
- 954
- Price
- $13.13
- Value
- $12,526
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 August 2026 | SLTA V (GP), L.L.C. Director | Sold | 12,500,000 | $22.02 | $275m |
| 8 June 2026 | Clark James Lindsey Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 4,921 | $15.69 | $77,210 |
| 1 June 2026 | Jardine Bret T Chief Legal Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 25,000 | $16.71 | $417,750 |
| 12 May 2026 | Jardine Bret T Chief Legal Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 682 | $16.12 | $10,994 |
| 7 May 2026 | Smith Joelle M President | Sold under a preset trading plan | 23,334 | $15.00 | $350,010 |
| 5 March 2026 | Jardine Bret T Chief Legal Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 600 | $12.09 | $7,254 |
| 4 March 2026 | Jardine Bret T Chief Legal Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 1,090 | $12.32 | $13,429 |
| 2 March 2026 | Nairne Douglas Global Chief Operating Officer | Bought | 9,000 | $11.86 | $106,740 |
| 17 November 2025 | Jardine Bret T Chief Legal Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 954 | $13.13 | $12,526 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the warning signs we check for were found.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 26 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 6 Aug 2026 and 4 later 8-Ks.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
- It isn't cheap on profits: 28.0× operating profit.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.