In the current market session, CenterPoint Energy Inc. CNP is trading at $25.50, after a 0.22% drop. However, over the past month, the stock spiked by 2.43%, and in the past year, by 34.04%. Shareholders might be interested in knowing whether the stock is overvalued, even if the company is not 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 2.62%.

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.

CenterPoint Energy Inc. has a lower P/E than the aggregate P/E of 22.82 of the Multi-Utilities industry. Ideally, one might believe that the stock might perform worse than its peers, but it's also probable that the stock is undervalued.

There are many limitations to price to earnings ratio. It is sometimes difficult to determine the nature of the earnings makeup of a company. Shareholders might not get what they're looking for, from trailing earnings.