in the current session accenture inc nyseacn is trading at 36381 after a 179 increase over the past month the stock increased by 047 and in the past year by 4556 with performance like this longterm shareholders are optimistic but others are more likely to look into the pricetoearnings ratio to see if the stock might be overvalued 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 296 the pe ratio is used by longterm shareholders to assess the companys market performance against aggregate market data historical earnings and the industry at large a lower pe can either represent a companys 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 pe ratio of the 4976 in the it services industry accenture inc has a lower pe ratio of 3902 shareholders might be inclined to think that the stock might perform worse than its industry peers its 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 theyre looking for from trailing earnings