People watch stocks for different reasons -- they're waiting for a dip in price, watching for a specific catalyst, gathering all the news and information that might affect stocks they already own, or considering a sell. Regardless of their motivation, we can better understand market sentiment by seeing who's watching what. With the Fool's free My Watchlist service, we have tens of thousands of people telling us the businesses that have, for whatever reason, piqued their interest.

The most-watched pipeline stock is...
Looking at the aggregate data, we see that Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE: KMP) is above the rest in terms of watch interest, the percentage of people keeping an eye on pipeline stocks in general who are specifically watching each company. And for good reason. As CAPS player wolfhounds wrote last month:

Once again, a new unit offering gives an opportunity to buy $8 off its high at an annualized current yield of 6.8%. This has been one of the top performing MLP's in the last 25 years. Expansion of pipelines due to shale gas drilling will be increasing cash flows.

Here are the rest of the top 15 most-watched companies in the industry with their watch interest along with the stocks' CAPS rating to show the sentiment of our investing community.

 

Company

Market Cap (in millions)

CAPS Rating (out of 5)

Watch Interest

1

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP

$24,279

*****

19.5%

2

Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD)

$36,622

*****

15.7%

3

Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE: ETP)

$10,207

*****

8.6%

4

El Paso (NYSE: EP)

$15,541

****

8.4%

5

Spectra Energy

$17,979

****

6.3%

6

Buckeye Partners LP

$6,054

****

5.5%

7

Copano Energy LLC (Nasdaq: CPNO)

$2,306

****

4.4%

8

Williams Companies

$17,397

*****

4.0%

9

Magellan Midstream Partners LP

$6,794

*****

3.9%

10

Atlas Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE: APL)

$1,792

****

3.8%

11

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE: BWP)

$5,823

****

3.3%

12

ONEOK Partners LP

$8,764

*****

2.5%

13

El Paso Pipeline Partners LP

$7,274

****

2.5%

14

Sunoco Logistics Partners LP

$2,868

***

2.3%

15

Energy Transfer Equity LP

$10,034

****

2.3%

Sources: Motley Fool, Motley Fool CAPS.

Whether you're keeping an eye on the industry stalwarts like Enterprise Products Partners or are watching an up-and-comer like Copano Energy, it pays to watch. We can help you keep tabs on your companies with My Watchlist, our free, personalized stock tracking service. Click here to start now.