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 commercial services stock is...
Looking at the aggregate data, we see that Waste Management (NYSE: WM) is above the rest in terms of watch interest, the percentage of people keeping an eye on commercial services stocks in general who are specifically watching each company. And for good reason. As CAPS player idahogeo wrote in May:

The trash needs to be picked up every week and no one picks up more trash than WM, so the core business is relevant for the long haul (pun intended). In addition, there is growth potential in energy production (landfill gas is largely methane) and raw materials can be extricated from the recycling stream.

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 (millions)

CAPS Rating (out of 5)

Watch Interest

1

Waste Management

$17,896

*****

19.8%

2

Healthcare Services Group (Nasdaq: HCSG)

$1,142

****

10.7%

3

EnergySolutions

$465

*****

10.6%

4

EnerNOC (Nasdaq: ENOC)

$447

****

9.5%

5

Pitney Bowes

$4,668

***

4.9%

6

Republic Services

$11,863

****

4.0%

7

Copart

$3,273

*****

2.2%

8

Clean Harbors

$2,887

***

2.0%

9

Metalico

$283

*****

1.9%

10

Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE: CXW)

$2,441

****

1.8%

11

R.R. Donnelley & Sons

$4,189

***

1.8%

12

Stericycle

$7,976

**

1.8%

13

Fuel-Tech (Nasdaq: FTEK)

$176

*****

1.6%

14

Deluxe Corp. (NYSE: DLX)

$1,346

***

1.5%

15

Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM)

$7,102

****

1.4%

Source: Motley Fool, Motley Fool CAPS.

Whether you're keeping an eye on the industry stalwarts like Waste Management or are watching an up-and-comer like EnerNOC, 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.