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.

With this data we have come up with a new metric, watch interest, to inform investors what stocks their peers keep tabs on in each industry. In the case of the packaging industry, watch interest is the percentage of people keeping an eye on packaging stocks in general who are specifically watching each company. By looking at what stocks people are most interested in, you can get ahead of the curve by finding hot stocks that you might have otherwise overlooked.

The most-watched packaging stock is ...
Looking at the aggregate data, we see that Bemis (NYSE: BMS) is above the rest in terms of watch interest and for good reason. As Fool contributor Sean Williams wrote in June:

Bemis may not be a household name, but the company probably has its handiwork scattered throughout your own home. Bemis manufactures and sells flexible packaging products and pressure-sensitive materials worldwide. ... Bemis is part of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrat Index, thanks to its impeccable record of raising its dividend for the past 28 years. In the past decade, shareholders have seen a 92% jump in their quarterly payout, which becomes even more impressive considering that we recently exited the worst financial downturn in our economy in roughly seven decades.

Here are the rest of the top 15 most-watched companies in the industry, listed with their watch interest and CAPS stock rating, to show the sentiment of our investing community:

 

Company

Market Cap
(in Millions)

CAPS Rating
(out of 5)

Watch Interest

1

Bemis

$3,296

***

15.7%

2

Temple-Inland (NYSE: TIN)

$3,155

***

12.1%

3

Boise (NYSE: BZ)

$507

***

9.9%

4

UFP Technologies (Nasdaq: UFPT)

$120

*****

8.5%

5

Rock-Tenn (NYSE: RKT)

$2,394

*****

7.3%

6

Sonoco Products (NYSE: SON)

$3,121

*****

7.0%

7

Owens-Illinois (NYSE: OI)

$3,614

***

6.2%

8

Ball (NYSE: BLL)

$6,134

***

5.7%

9

Crown Holdings (NYSE: CCK)

$5,831

***

5.2%

10

Packaging Corp. of America (NYSE: PKG)

$2,584

****

4.5%

11

Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE: GPK)

$1,864

**

4.3%

12

Graham Packaging (NYSE: GRM)

$1,718

*****

3.7%

13

Sealed Air (NYSE: SEE)

$3,305

**

3.6%

14

Silgan (Nasdaq: SLGN)

$2,624

*****

3.3%

15

Greif (NYSE: GEF)

$2,673

*****

3.0%

Source: Motley Fool, Motley Fool CAPS.

Whether you're keeping an eye on industry stalwarts like Bemis, or monitoring an up-and-comer like UFP Technologies, 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.