Three Ways to Find Deals in Your Investments This Year

(Image credit: Getty Images)

By Anne Kates Smith, Ella Vincent, Liisa Rajala, David Milstead, Emma Patch, Jason Steele, Nellie S. Huang

published 31 July 2025

in Features

It’s always a good time to get a good deal. But as tariffs take effect on some imported goods — and as the Trump administration continues to negotiate tariffs with other countries — you may be especially interested right now in how you can save money while you shop.

Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine has taken the time to assess how you can find deals this year on investments, groceries, electronics, clothing, cars and travel, as well as how to take advantage of credit card perks — with a special emphasis on finding deals for products and services most prone to rising prices as the trade war evolves. In this article, we look at deals on investments. (See below to find links to our other articles about deals.)

Bet on a bigger payout

Some companies stretch to make their quarterly cash payout to investors. Others could stretch a little more.

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With the help of S&P Global Market Intelligence, we looked for companies that have been adding to their cash pile, building fodder for potential payout hikes.

Wall Street analysts are bullish on these stocks now; a beefier payout would be a nice bonus. Prices are as of May 31.

Global Payments (GPN, $76) processes sales transactions for stores, restaurants and the issuers of credit cards. The company plans to use $7 billion through 2027 for share buybacks and dividends.

The $250 million in dividends it has been paying each year — $1 per share — now represents just 16% of its profits. The stock has struggled this year as investors worry about an economic slowdown hitting the company’s small-business customers.

That uncertainty has left the shares “materially undervalued,” says Morningstar analyst Brett Horn, who sees $131 per share as fair value for the stock.

Stock in HCI Group (HCI, $169), an insurer that also sells industry software, has had a good run, hitting a 52-week high in May. But the company is poised for a big jump in profits, according to a consensus of the analysts who follow it, from $8.75 in 2024 to $15.41 this year.

And the small-company stock trades at 11 times estimated 2025 earnings, well below the average multiple for property-casualty insurers. The dividend, at 40 cents per quarter, represents about 15% of 2024 profits, and it hasn’t increased in five years.

TechnipFMC (FTI, $31) specializes in equipment for oil and gas drillers who operate below the sea’s surface. Technip paid a quarterly dividend of 13 cents per share until suspending it in 2020 amid the COVID-19 energy slump.

It restarted payments in 2023 at 5 cents per share. With big jumps in cash and profits, however, the dividend payout ratio is now 10%, according to S&P. Seventeen of the 23 analysts covering the stock are bullish, according to S&P; six rate it a “hold.”

Bag a bonus when you open a brokerage account

A cash bonus shouldn’t be the only criterion you use to choose a new brokerage firm, or even a top consideration. But some cash in your pocket is a nice sweetener. We found three online brokers offering cash credits to new customers.

The deals are only good for one account, and you must fund the account with cash or assets within a certain time to qualify.

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing offers up to $700 if you’re new to the firm and open an account at account.chase.com/investing/self-directedoffer. Deposit assets within 45 days, and you’ll get your bonus after the account has been open 90 days.

The more you deposit, the more you earn. A transfer of $5,000 to $24,999 will get a $50 credit, for example; $100,000 to $249,999 earns $325. Deposits of $250,000 or more fetch $700.

At Charles Schwab, the new-account bonus requires a referral from an existing Schwab client. See www.schwab.com/referral for more details. A $25,000 transfer earns $100; $50,000 gets $300. The deal tops out at a $1,000 bonus for a deposit of $500,000 or more.

E*Trade has a deal, too, if you act fast. It ends July 31, but you have until the end of September to fund the account to receive the cash credit. For a taxable brokerage account, go to us.etrade.com/promo/brokerage; head to us.etrade.com/promo/retirement for a retirement account.

Snag bargains abroad

We asked value managers — investors who focus on bargain-priced stocks — where they see opportunity these days. Many pointed to international stocks.

International value indexes reflect stocks trading at an average of about 11 times estimated earnings and 1.3 times book value (assets minus liabilities), notes Colin McQueen, portfolio manager of the T. Rowe Price International Value fund.

“That’s in line with historic valuations, while other markets have gone off to the moon,” he says.

By comparison, the S&P 500 Value index, a U.S. benchmark, has a price-earnings ratio over 17 and a book-value multiple of 3.4. U.S. investors can access foreign shares via American depositary receipts that trade here. Prices are as of May 31.

Financial stocks, particularly European banks, have performed well recently but are still recovering from COVID-era valuations that “priced in a depression that didn’t quite arrive,” says McQueen.

He recommends Barclays (BCS, $18), the giant London-headquartered financial services firm, trading at less than 8 times expected earnings and just 0.7 times book value. The stock yields 2.4%.

Another U.K.-based pick from McQueen is Informa (IFJPY, $21), a market leader in corporate events, trade shows and exhibitions. The company’s market share of that business dwarfs that of the nearest competitor, says McQueen, “and they’re widening that gap.” The stock trades at about 14 times estimated earnings and yields 2.4%

Of course, tariffs are top-of-mind overseas, too. Some stocks have been punished beyond what they should be, says David Polak, investment director at fund company Capital Group.

Take German industrial machinery firm Siemens (SIEGY, $121), for example. “Of its U.S. business, 100% is produced in the U.S.,” Polak notes.

Hermès International (HESAY, $276) has the pricing power to mitigate the impact of tariffs. The luxury goods firm has raised prices less than competitors in recent years, and it has tight control over supply, says Polak.

“They’re an example of a company in a strong position to be able to pass on costs if necessary,” he says.

Note: This item first appeared in Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, a monthly, trustworthy source of advice and guidance. Subscribe to help you make more money and keep more of the money you make here.

Nellie joined Kiplinger in August 2011 after a seven-year stint in Hong Kong. There, she worked for the Wall Street Journal Asia, where as lifestyle editor, she launched and edited Scene Asia, an online guide to food, wine, entertainment and the arts in Asia. Prior to that, she was an editor at Weekend Journal, the Friday lifestyle section of the Wall Street Journal Asia. Kiplinger isn't Nellie's first foray into personal finance: She has also worked at SmartMoney (rising from fact-checker to senior writer), and she was a senior editor at Money.