First Advantage Corp

First Advantage provides background checks and identity verification to employers. Its services include criminal background screening, checks on a candidate's education and work history, drug and health testing, digital identity checks that flag fake identities and deepfakes (images or video faked with artificial intelligence), and ongoing monitoring of current employees and drivers. Its annual report cites more than 80,000 customers, including about two-thirds of the Fortune 100. It runs over 200 million screens a year in more than 200 countries and territories.

Most of its revenue comes from screening job candidates before they start work, so sales track how much its customers are hiring. Its software connects with more than 100 human resources and applicant-tracking systems. It also draws on its own databases of over 1 billion US criminal, education and work-history records, plus thousands of outside data providers. Customers tend to stay. Gross retention, a measure of how much revenue it keeps from existing clients, was about 96% as of December 31, 2025.

In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, revenue was about $1.57 billion, up 83% from the prior year. The Sterling business, which First Advantage acquired, made up 49.2% of that total. First Advantage Americas made up 44.5% and First Advantage International 6.3%. The US accounted for 85.8% of revenue.

• In Q2 FY2026 (ended Jun 30, 2026), revenue was $448.8M, up 14.9% from a year earlier, and net income was $16.9M (+5391.6%).
• For fiscal 2025, revenue was $1.57B (+83.0% year over year; +21.9% a year from FY2021 to FY2025) with a -2.2% net margin.

• Over FY2021–FY2025: $120.0M in buybacks and $0.00 in dividends.
• The company pays no regular dividend.
• Shares outstanding changed +12.4% from Aug 12, 2021 to Jul 31, 2026.

Rank among 1514 US companies

Market value at each year end

First Advantage’s market value went from $2.91B at the end of 2021 to $3.61B on Oct 28, 2026, up 24%; since the end of 2025 it is up 43%.

Form 4 filings from 2025-10-29 to 2026-10-29 (25 read): 1 open-market purchases ($107K) and 8 sales ($276.1M), 7 of them under pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plans.

Large shareholders (13G filings)

ETFs with the most weight in FA

1. Sales rise and fall with hiring. Most revenue comes from screening job candidates before they start work. When the economy weakens and customers delay hiring or cut staff, screening orders drop, and not every contract guarantees volumes.
2. Strict, changing background-check laws. Laws like the Fair Credit Reporting Act and "fair chance" rules limiting employers' use of criminal records can cut demand or raise costs. Federal Trade Commission consent decrees inherited from a 2013 acquisition still apply.
3. A data breach could be costly. It holds over 1 billion US criminal, education and work-history records. A breach, cyberattack or inaccurate report could bring lawsuits, regulatory action and lost customers, and insurance may not cover every cost.
4. Sterling acquisition may disappoint. The acquired Sterling business made up 49.2% of revenue in fiscal 2025. If the expected benefits of combining the two companies fall short, results and the stock's value could suffer.
5. Heavy debt load. As of June 30, 2026, total debt was about $2.03 billion against $237.9 million in cash and investments. Servicing it takes significant cash, and loan terms restrict what management can do.
6. Silver Lake has control. The annual report filed February 26, 2026 says Silver Lake controls First Advantage and may have interests that conflict with other shareholders'. That status also lets the company skip some Nasdaq governance rules.

• Aug 12, 2026 Other company announcement
• Aug 6, 2026 Quarterly results released; Executive or board change
• Jun 8, 2026 Shareholder vote results
• May 7, 2026 Quarterly results released
• Feb 26, 2026 Quarterly results released
• Jan 30, 2026 Executive or board change
• Nov 6, 2025 Quarterly results released

First Advantage does not pay a regular dividend, and its annual report says it does not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future. The dividend yield was 0% as of October 28, 2026, so the stock provides no regular cash income. Any return comes from changes in the share price. The company spent about $120 million on buybacks (repurchasing its own stock) from fiscal 2021 through 2025, all of it in 2022 and 2023. Shares outstanding still rose 12.4% between August 2021 and July 2026.

In the 2022 stock market slump, the shares fell 41.2% from their March 30, 2022 high to their July 12, 2022 low. They did not recover until August 21, 2024, about 25 months later. The deepest drop in about five years of price history was 58.8%, as of October 28, 2026. That record is too short to include the 2008 or 2020 crashes. A single stock carries more risk than a diversified fund.