Not a good buy right now: the trend is still bearish (SMA_200 > SMA_20 > SMA_5) with negative MACD, suggesting rallies are more likely to fade.
Sentiment/capital flows are leaning negative: hedge funds are selling aggressively (+277% QoQ selling), and recent news highlights AI-related demand/execution concerns.
Options positioning looks call-heavy (very low put/call OI), but there is essentially no options volume today—so it’s not a strong real-time bullish confirmation.
With earnings coming (QDEC 2025 on 2026-03-06 pre-market), risk/reward is not attractive for an impatient entry.
Momentum: MACD histogram at -0.159 (below 0) and negatively contracting—bearish momentum persists, even if selling pressure is slightly moderating.
RSI: RSI_6 ~44.5 (neutral-to-weak), not showing an oversold bounce setup.
Key levels: Pivot 13.604 is overhead (current ~13.13), so price is below the pivot; support at S1 12.649 then S2 12.059; resistance at R1 14.559.
Pattern-based forward drift: similar-pattern stats suggest mixed near-term (next week +2.51%) but weaker next day/month expectations (next day -1.78%, next month -1.3%), consistent with choppy bear-market rallies.
Options Data
Bullish
Open Interest Put-Call Ratio
Bullish
Option Volume Put-Call Ratio
Open interest is strongly call-skewed (calls 101 vs puts 8; OI put/call 0.08), which is sentiment-bullish on positioning.
However, today’s options volume is 0 (no real-time confirmation of bullish demand).
Volatility: IV_30d ~92.77 vs historical vol ~48.33 (IV elevated; IV percentile ~75.3), implying the market is pricing sizable moves into upcoming catalysts (notably earnings).
Technical Summary
Sell
10
Buy
4
Positive Catalysts
and reclaims the 13.60 pivot, a tactical rebound toward ~14.56 (R
is possible.
Neutral/Negative Catalysts
Institutional selling highlighted: Cortland Associates sold 399k shares ($5.63M).
Financial Performance
Latest reported quarter: 2025/Q3.
Revenue: $409.151M, up 105.48% YoY (top-line surged).
Profitability deteriorated: Net income $2.593M, down 129.27% YoY; EPS $0.01, down 116.67% YoY.
Margins: Gross margin 30.51%, down 10.76% YoY—growth is coming with worse profitability/efficiency, which weakens the bull case until margins stabilize.
Growth
Profitability
Efficiency
Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends
Recent analyst actions (2025-11-07):
JPMorgan: kept Overweight, cut PT to $17 from $21 after Q3.
Stifel: kept Buy, cut PT to $17 from $20; noted improving base volume trends despite flat hiring trends and cited broader valuation pullback.
Wall Street pros: still positive ratings and see upside to $17.
Wall Street cons: both firms reduced targets (confidence moderated), aligning with the market’s bearish trend and the company’s margin/EPS pressure.
Influential trading check: No recent congress trading data available; insiders neutral; notable external seller in news was Cortland Associates (institutional/holder activity, not political).
Wall Street analysts forecast FA stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for FA is 17.33 USD with a low forecast of 17 USD and a high forecast of 18 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
6 Analyst Rating
Wall Street analysts forecast FA stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for FA is 17.33 USD with a low forecast of 17 USD and a high forecast of 18 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
3 Buy
3 Hold
0 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 12.180
Low
17
Averages
17.33
High
18
Current: 12.180
Low
17
Averages
17.33
High
18
JPMorgan
Overweight -> NULL
downgrade
$21 -> $17
AI Analysis
2025-11-07
Reason
JPMorgan
Price Target
$21 -> $17
AI Analysis
2025-11-07
downgrade
Overweight -> NULL
Reason
JPMorgan lowered the firm's price target on First Advantage to $17 from $21 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares following the Q3 report.
Stifel
Buy
downgrade
$20 -> $17
2025-11-07
Reason
Stifel
Price Target
$20 -> $17
2025-11-07
downgrade
Buy
Reason
Stifel lowered the firm's price target on First Advantage (FA) to $17 from $20 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The positive stock reaction to earnings is likely due to base volume trends continuing to improve despite "consistently flat" hiring trends, in contrast to media headlines and to what Equifax (EFX) noted in its Talent business, according to the analyst, who cites the valuation pullback in the Info Services market in general for its trimmed target.
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