Head to Head Survey: Asure Software (NASDAQ:ASUR) and First Advantage (NYSE:FA)

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) and Asure Software (NASDAQ:ASUR) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for First Advantage and Asure Software, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Advantage	0	3	3	0	2.50
Asure Software	1	1	1	1	2.50

First Advantage presently has a consensus price target of $22.67, indicating a potential upside of 5.04%. Asure Software has a consensus price target of $15.00, indicating a potential upside of 77.10%. Given Asure Software’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Asure Software is more favorable than First Advantage.

Volatility and Risk

First Advantage has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Asure Software has a beta of 0.49, suggesting that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares First Advantage and Asure Software”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Advantage	$1.66 billion	2.23	$37.29 million	$0.14	154.14
Asure Software	$155.43 million	1.57	-$13.13 million	($0.29)	-29.21

First Advantage has higher revenue and earnings than Asure Software. Asure Software is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Advantage, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares First Advantage and Asure Software’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Advantage	0.65%	13.16%	7.33%
Asure Software	-5.42%	8.19%	3.27%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

94.9% of First Advantage shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.6% of Asure Software shares are held by institutional investors. 4.4% of First Advantage shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.9% of Asure Software shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

First Advantage beats Asure Software on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Advantage

First Advantage Corporation provides employment background screening, identity, and verification solutions worldwide. It offers pre-onboarding products and solutions, such as criminal background checks, drug/health screening, extended workforce screening, FBI channeling, identity checks and biometric fraud mitigation tools, education/work history verification, driver records and compliance, healthcare credentials, executive screening, and other screening products. The company also provides post-onboarding solutions, including criminal records monitoring, healthcare sanctions, motor vehicle records, social media screening, and global sanctions and licenses; and other products comprising fleet/vehicle compliance, hiring tax credits and incentives, resident/tenant screening, and investigative research. Its products and solutions are used by personnel in recruiting, human resources, risk, compliance, vendor management, safety, and/or security in global enterprises, mid-sized, and small companies. The company was formerly known as Fastball Intermediate, Inc. and changed its name to First Advantage Corporation in March 2021. First Advantage Corporation was founded in 2002 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Asure Software

Asure Software, Inc. engages in the provision of cloud-based Human Capital Management (HCM) software solutions in the United States. It provides its human resources (HR) tool as Software-as-a-Service that helps various small and medium-sized businesses to build productive workforce to help them stay compliant and allocate resources to grow their business. The company's solutions include Asure Payroll & Tax, an integrated solution that simplifies payroll and automates regulations associated with payroll and taxes, including wages, benefits, overtime, garnishments, tips, direct deposits, and fair labor standard act, as well as federal, state, and local payroll taxes; and Tax Management Solutions, that provides payroll tax processing software and service solutions, as well as bulk filing and processing support of employee retention tax credits, for the payroll service industry, mid-market, and corporate employers. It also provides HR compliance and services, including HR support, which provides an on-demand HR resource library, phone, and email support for various HR issues and compliance, and policy updates; Strategic HR, which provides in-depth support for strategic HR decision making; and Total HR, which provides a complete HR outsourcing solution, for handling HR complexities, such as employee self-service, applicant tracking, onboarding, and compliance. In addition, the company offers Time and Attendance, which provides cost savings and return on investment gains come in the form of strategic use of labor dollars and the elimination of time theft; and AsureMarketplace that automates interactions between its HCM systems with third-party providers. Asure Software, Inc. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.