Looking into the current session, Abercrombie & Fitch Inc. ANF shares are trading at $11.91, after a 2.76% gain. Moreover, over the past month, the stock went up by 18.12%, but in the past year, decreased by 29.86%. 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 from its 52 week low by 60.62%. Assuming that all other factors are held constant, this could present itself as an opportunity for investors trying to diversify their portfolio with apparel retail 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.

Most often, an industry will prevail in a particular phase of a business cycle, than other industries.

Abercrombie & Fitch Inc. has a better P/E ratio of 19.33 than the aggregate P/E ratio of 13.46 of the apparel retail industry. Ideally, one might believe that Abercrombie & Fitch  might perform better in the future than its 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.