3 High-Yield Bargains to Watch in 2025’s Second Half

Key Points

• Bloomin' Brands is working to refocus and revitalize its business with simpler offerings and technology. 
• Flowers Foods is diversifying to stay abreast of trends and sustain growth.
• Haverty Furniture Company has the balance sheet to sustain its capital return until business improves.

Stocks like Bloomin’ Brands NASDAQ: BLMN, Flowers Foods NYSE: FLO, and Haverty Furniture Company NYSE: HVT are down in 2025 due to headwinds and growth struggles. However, the low share prices offer deep values relative to their historical norms, and high yields are in play.

While risks are present, factors including payout ratios, cash flow, and balance sheet health offset them, making these stocks attractive for risk-tolerant dividend investors. 

The most significant risk with each will be the slowing of capital return growth, with a lesser risk of distribution reductions that are already priced into their markets. The upside is the potential for long-term share price rebounds, which may reach the high triple-digit range within a few years. 

Bloomin’ Brands Sows the Seeds for Long-Term, Sustained Growth

Bloomin’ Brands struggles include weak comp-store growth and rising costs. The impact in FQ1 2025 was amplified by the divestiture of its Brazilian holding, a move that is part of its long-term repositioning strategy.

The company is refocusing on its core operations, intending to simplify the menu for guests and employees, improve internal efficiencies with the aid of technology investments, store remodels, and a value-oriented marketing campaign. 

Bloomin’ Brands' dividend is worth an annualized 6% as of mid-July. The payout is relatively safe despite the business contraction at 58% of the earnings outlook, and the balance sheet is in good shape.

The highlights at the end of Q1 include sufficient cash flow to allow for dividend payments, share buybacks, and debt reduction. The net result was an increase in equity and 2% share count reduction. 

Bloomin’ Brands is among the lowest-rated stocks on MarketBeat’s platform. However, the June and early July activity consists of two price target increases that reflect an improving outlook.

Likewise, the institutions, which own nearly 90% of the stock, are buying in 2025 with H1 trends carrying into the first weeks of Q3. The company reports in August and has a very low bar to hurdle. 

Flowers Foods Invests In Its Future

Flowers Foods struggles include the shift away from traditional baked goods towards healthier choices.

Flowers Foods' solution is strategic acquisitions aimed at bolstering its good-for-you portfolio. 

The net result is a sluggish return to growth, but growth that supports the outlook for its dividend. Yielding more than 6.0% in early Q3, the payout is a high 75% of the earnings outlook, but is sustainable due to the cash flow and balance sheet health. 

Flowers Foods' balance sheet is in good shape. The highlights from Q1 reflect recent acquisitions with assets and liabilities increasing and equity holding steady. Long-term debt leverage is low at roughly 3x equity, and quarterly cash flow was positive. 

The analysts’ coverage of Flowers Food is tepid. MarketBeat tracks only three with current ratings, and that is a Hold with potential 20% upside at the consensus price target.

The institutional activity is more robust, accounting for approximately 75% of the share count, and they are buying on balance in Q1, Q2, and the first two weeks of Q3 2025.

Haverty Furniture Company: Comfortably Waiting for Business to Pick Up

Haverty Furniture Company’s hurdles include sluggish home sales and consumer pullback. The result is the eighth consecutive quarter of revenue contraction, but the end is in sight.

The first half of F2025 is expected to be weak, but growth should resume in the back half. The forecast for the following year is an acceleration, including a doubling of the bottom line.

Growth will be driven by pent-up demand and FOMC interest rate reductions, which are expected to stimulate demand in the retail, remodel and new home markets. 

Haverty’s dividend is the riskiest of the lot, running above 100% of its earnings outlook and yielding about 5.75%.

However, the balance sheet is a fortress, carrying sufficient cash to sustain the payout for years without negative impact.

The company also has no debt and a total liability of slightly more than 1 times equity, a robust financial position for this top-tier business.