looking into the current session oshkosh inc nyseosk is trading at 10585 after a 220 decrease over the past month the stock decreased by 849 but over the past year it actually spiked by 2622 with questionable shortterm performance like this and great longterm performance longterm shareholders might want to start looking into the companys pricetoearnings ratio 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 under from its 52 week high by 2300 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 depending on the particular phase of a business cycle some industries will perform better than others oshkosh inc has a lower pe than the aggregate pe of 2394 of the machinery industry ideally one might believe that the stock might perform worse than its peers but its 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 theyre looking for from trailing earnings