The Russian stock market was predicted to suffer quite a lot in 2019 due to all of the pressing sanctions and tense foreign relations with some of its most valuable trade partners such as the European Union and even the United States. However,  the poor predictions that were plaguing the web in mid/late 2018 turned out to be wrong as oil prices took a drastic uptick in the first quarter of 2019 and Russian companies were simply elated.

Due to the price increases, both the companies and the currency managed to consolidate significantly, at times paying as much as 40% in dividends to their investors. One key aspect to note about Russian stocks is that they’re profitable as long as they’re in the energy or financial fields, therefore let’s look at the three most promising companies for the last two quarters of 2019.

Sberbank (SBRCY)

In retrospect, investing in something related to finance in the Russian market could be a bit risky due to the questionable regulation that The Russian Central Bank (RCB) came out a couple of months ago. RCB “banned” several offshore FX brokers with Russian regulation and caused a lot more speculation in the financial sector of the Russian Federation.

However, those “layoffs” of multiple offshore companies, turned out to be an advantageous move for some of Russia’s largest banks, especially Sberbank.

Nearly all of the Russian stocks used to be extremely cheap in 2018 but now that we look at the charts it paints a completely different picture.

According to Russian FX experts, the ruble is sure to have an uptick from the neutrality with US-China trade war and it has already benefited.

However, due to Russia’s foreign policy volatility, some risks will definitely be associated with the investments.

For Sberbank, it’s much more realistic to reach last year’s high of RUB 277, from the current RUB 243 currently, giving the investors a solid 12% increase before the end of 2019.

Gazprom (OGZPY)

Gazprom’s amazing growth in May 2019 seems to be at its peak as the company stocks are starting to struggle a little bit in early July.

Many are expecting for the prices to plummet to around RUB 200 by the end of Q3 of 2019, which would be an ideal moment for entering a position due to the increasing oil and gas prices across the world.

The United States and China are sure to look for alternative energy suppliers should the trade talks conclude to nothing and introduce yet another round of tension.

Although the charts don’t look too good of a picture for Gazprom’s future as it has already grown more than 55% in the last two months, it’s still expected that the company will have some kind of a comeback should they fail to meet the anticipation of most investors in terms of revenue in Q3.

Furthermore, the company has just discovered two new fields with over 500 billion cubic meters of gas which was the primary driver of their stock price, to begin with. Once extraction starts, it may cause a tumble in the prices, but the exports are sure to grow in the long term.

Rosneft Oil (OJSCY)

Rosneft Oil is Russia’s largest oil company. It was created and is owned by the state but it looks like the corporation is heading to a positive 2019, due to a massive downfall in 2018.

As already mentioned with Sberbank. The oil prices are up compared to 2018s performance, which gives not only the Russian rubble but Rosneft a lot of room to maneuver as well.

Taking a look at the chart we immediately see that Rosneft’s stock is severely undervalued at the moment, as it holds the price of RUB 420, down by around 17% from 2018’s uptick of RUB 510 per share.

As long as Russia is able to maintain a neutral standpoint in the US-China trade war, it’s guaranteed to see much more demand for its oil exports to either of the participants.

But when it comes to foreign policy, the Russian market is always risky. The sanctions did indeed tank most of the largest companies, but that simply caused another round of bullish investors flooding Russian stocks.

It’s expected that Rosneft may reach at least RUB 500 by the end of 2019, should trade talks end on a negative note.