Looking into the current session, Matson Inc. MATX shares are trading at $34.24, after a 25.33% spike. Moreover, over the past month, the stock spiked by 15.28%, but in the past year, decreased by 10.85%. 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 higher from its 52 week low by 44.17%. Assuming that all other factors are held constant, this could present itself as an opportunity for investors trying to diversify their portfolio with Marine Shipping 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 indicates that shareholders do not expect the stock to perform better in the future, and that the company is probably undervalued. 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.

Depending on the particular phase of a business cycle, some industries will perform better than others.

Matson Inc. has a better P/E ratio of 16.0 than the aggregate P/E ratio of 9.37 of the Marine Shipping industry. Ideally, one might believe that Matson Inc. might perform better in the future than it’s industry group, but it’s probable that the stock is overvalued.

P/E ratio is not always a great indicator of the company's performance. Depending on the earnings makeup of a company, investors may not be able to attain key insights from trailing earnings.