FAFirst Advantage Corporation
Is the business good?
The checks split: nothing decisive, though earnings fully cash-backed (2.2×).
Operating profit is fully backed by cash.
Margins have held roughly steady, a stable cost structure.
Against the whole market›
Percentile against every name Ryufin tracks. Higher is better; the tick marks the middle of the market. Context, not one of the checks above.
Where this answer is blind. The F-score rewards improvement, so an already-elite company can score mid-pack.
How good a business is FA?
First Advantage Corporation earns 4.5% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 4.5 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 11%
Operating margin · Specialty Business Services median 6.8% · 12 months to Q2 2026
- Cash conversion
- 2.19×
Cash conversion · operating cash flow covers the operating profit after tax
- Share count, year on year
- −1.1%
Share count, year on year · bought back, each share owns more of the company
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2019 | 19% |
| FY2021 | 9.0% |
| FY2022 | 12% |
| FY2023 | 11% |
| FY2024 | −7.2% |
| FY2025 | 8.4% |
Details›
- Operating margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 11%
- Net margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 1.5%
- Free cash flow margin
- 15%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 6.1%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $1.66B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $249M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $25M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 4.5%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.
Specialty Business Services
Ranks #18 of 22 by RyuScore