Right now, Reliance Steel & Aluminum Inc. RS share price is at $147.32, after a 1.83% increase. Moreover, over the past month, the stock fell by 2.31%, but in the past year, increased by 52.63%. Shareholders might be interested in knowing whether the stock is overvalued, even if the company is performing up to par in the current session.

Assuming that all other factors are held constant, this could present itself as an opportunity for shareholders trying to capitalize on the higher share price. The stock is currently below from its 52 week high by 18.70%.

The P/E ratio is used by long-term shareholders to assess the company's market performance against aggregate market data, historical earnings, and the industry at large. A lower P/E can either represent a company's poor future earnings potential or a buying opportunity relative to other stocks. It shows that shareholders are less than willing to pay a high share price, because they do not expect the company to exhibit growth, in terms of future earnings.

Most often, an industry will prevail in a particular phase of a business cycle, than other industries.

Compared to the aggregate P/E ratio of 13.07 in the Metals & Mining industry, Reliance Steel & Aluminum Inc. has a higher P/E ratio of 16.33. Shareholders might be inclined to think that Reliance Steel & Aluminum Inc. might perform better than its industry group. It's also possible that the stock is overvalued.

Price to earnings ratio is not always a great indicator of the company's performance. Depending on the earnings makeup of a company, investors can become unable to attain key insights from trailing earnings.