Right now, MSC Industrial Direct Co Inc. MSM share price is at $82.30, after a 0.13% gain. Moreover, over the past month, the stock decreased by 3.74%, but in the past year, spiked by 9.65%. 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 6.31%. 

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. 

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 47.73 in the Trading Companies & Distributors industry, MSC Industrial Direct Co Inc. has a lower P/E ratio of 18.25. 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.