Looking into the current session, Marten Transport Inc. MRTN shares are trading at $15.35, after a 0.85% increase. Moreover, over the past month, the stock went up by 1.52%, but in the past year, decreased by 4.68%. Shareholders might be interested in knowing whether the stock is undervalued, even if the company is performing up to par in the current session.

The stock is currently above its 52 week low by 4.28%. Assuming that all other factors are held constant, this could present itself as an opportunity for investors trying to diversify their portfolio with Road & Rail stocks, and capitalize on the lower share price observed over the year.

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 the 20.28 in the Road & Rail industry, Marten Transport Inc. has a lower P/E ratio of 16.37. Shareholders might be inclined to think that the stock might perform worse than its industry peers. It's also possible 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.