Forensic Analysis · Technology / Software · as of Aug 9, 2026
First Advantage Corp (FA)
A forensic read on First Advantage Corp built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Grey Zone
Financial health
2.4
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
484.6
P / E (ttm)
-2.7%
ROE
$4.1B
Market cap
0.00%
Dividend yield
83.0%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
First Advantage Corp earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.4, placing it in the Grey zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
3.1%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 3.1% in the latest fiscal year and slipping from 5% — well below its ~10% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
+4.5%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +14% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+4.5%/yr). The count is growing: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~4.5% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2022 has been diluted ~12%.
1.6% of rev
FY2025
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 1.6% of revenue and 13% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $0.14 per diluted share. The cost of it is not in the cash flow — no cash left the business — it is in the count: holders gave up about 4.8% of the company a year, and that rate is not falling. That is the figure to weigh, not the share of free cash flow.
stopped
FY2023→FY2025
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $59M of buybacks + dividends in FY2023, but ~$0 in FY2025. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.57B
Revenue Growth YoY+83.0%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+24.8%
Net Margin-2.2%
Free Cash Flow$188.5M
Return on Equity-2.7%
Debt / Equity1.58x
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from First Advantage Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?