First Advantage Corporation (FA) Earnings: Q3 2026 Results

The quarter ended September 30, 2026 and First Advantage published the results on November 5, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q3 2025, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison. First Advantage reports EPS two ways: GAAP, under the accounting rules every US filer follows, and Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share, which leaves out items the company considers outside its operating results. The release reconciles the two, and when they diverge, the reconciliation says why.

• Sterling Check Corp. was acquired on October 31, 2024 and is reported as its own segment, so Q3 2025 and Q3 2026 both include it.
• Segment figures are from the Form 10-Q; First Advantage reports in thousands and they are shown here in millions.

Source: First Advantage Q3 2026 results, November 5, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How First Advantage splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q3 2026 against Q3 2025. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• First Advantage's First Advantage Americas revenue was $231 million in Q3 2026, up 26% from $183 million in Q3 2025, 50% of total revenue.
• First Advantage's First Advantage International revenue was $26.4 million in Q3 2026, down 11% from $29.7 million in Q3 2025, 6% of total revenue.
• First Advantage's Sterling revenue was $210 million in Q3 2026, up 5% from $199 million in Q3 2025, 45% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

In its Q3 2026 release, First Advantage said:

“Raising full year 2026 guidance ranges to Revenues of $1.720 billion to $1.745 billion, Adjusted EBITDA of $488 million to $498 million, Adjusted Net Income of $227 million to $232 million, and Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share of $1.30 to $1.33”

Source: First Advantage Q3 2026 release, Nov 5, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Nov 5, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the FA forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

Revenues and GAAP diluted net income per share, each as first reported in that quarter's release, in millions of dollars except EPS.

We do not hold a confirmed date for First Advantage's next report. Companies post the date on their investor relations site a few weeks ahead, usually with the time of the conference call.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q3 2026 (this page), reported Nov 5, 2026

First Advantage sells background screening and compliance services, grouped as pre-onboarding (criminal background checks, drug and health screenings, identity checks), post-onboarding (continuous monitoring and re-screening) and adjacent products. Pre-onboarding products make up the substantial majority of its revenues. (First Advantage Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 5, 2026)

First Advantage has three segments. In Q3 2026 First Advantage Americas brought in $231.0 million, up from $182.8 million; Sterling, the business acquired in October 2024, $210.2 million, up from $199.4 million; and First Advantage International $26.4 million, down from $29.7 million. Intersegment eliminations were $1.8 million, for total revenues of $465.8 million, up 13.8%. (First Advantage Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 5, 2026; First Advantage Q3 2026 release, Nov 5, 2026)

First Advantage put the $56.6 million increase down to two sources: $40.4 million (9.8%) from existing customers, through higher volumes and upselling and cross-selling, net of lost accounts, and $16.2 million (4.0%) from new customers, mostly in the Americas and Sterling segments. It said pricing remained relatively stable. (First Advantage Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 5, 2026)

The United States accounted for $407.6 million of revenue in the quarter and all other countries $58.1 million; no other single country reached 10% of revenues. (First Advantage Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 5, 2026)

First Advantage reported GAAP diluted EPS of $0.12 and Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share of $0.38 in Q3 2026. The largest adjustment was $53.8 million of acquisition-related depreciation and amortization, worth $0.31 a share, from intangible and technology assets recorded in acquisitions. Share-based compensation ($5.1 million), integration and restructuring charges ($3.8 million) and transaction costs are also added back, and adjusted income taxes are computed at an effective rate of about 25.7%. (First Advantage Q3 2026 release, Nov 5, 2026)

Net income rose to $20.5 million from $2.6 million a year earlier, helped by lower interest expense: net interest was $30.4 million, against $40.0 million. During the quarter First Advantage prepaid $45 million of debt. (First Advantage Q3 2026 release, Nov 5, 2026)

Diluted weighted average shares were 175,435,437, against 175,549,342 a year earlier. First Advantage repurchased 3,252,970 shares at an average of $11.80 in the first nine months of 2026, and about $61.6 million remained under the program at September 30, 2026. (First Advantage Q3 2026 release, Nov 5, 2026; First Advantage Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 5, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

First Advantage gives a full-year outlook in its release and raised it with Q3 2026 results: revenues of $1,720 million to $1,745 million (prior $1,670 million to $1,710 million), Adjusted EBITDA of $488 million to $498 million, Adjusted Net Income of $227 million to $232 million and Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share of $1.30 to $1.33 (prior $1.23 to $1.29). (First Advantage Q3 2026 release, Nov 5, 2026)

First Advantage does not reconcile these non-GAAP guidance figures to GAAP net income or EPS, saying the adjusting items cannot be forecast without unreasonable effort. (First Advantage Q3 2026 release, Nov 5, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover First Advantage, collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones First Advantage's own release and filings put weight on for Q3 2026, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning FA is on is FA a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the FA forecast, and what the company does is on the First Advantage Corporation (FA) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document First Advantage published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.