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 health-care equipment stock is ...
Looking at the aggregate data, we see that Becton Dickinson (NYSE: BDX) is above the rest in terms of watch interest, the percentage of people keeping an eye on Health care equipment stocks in general who are specifically watching each company. And for good reason. As CAPS member MarginOfSafetyIn wrote in December:

[Becton] seems to be a very robust business, with high free cash flow generation, high ROE and ROIC. While I would have preferred to see ROA consistently above 9-10%, the other metrics give me great confidence in the company's results. Growth has been extremely consistent at around 7% and seems to be going back to similar levels after a flat 2009.

Here are the rest of the 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

Becton Dickinson

$17,815

*****

15.2%

2

Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq: ISRG)

$13,525

****

14.8%

3

Medtronic (NYSE: MDT)

$42,240

*****

10.7%

4

Stryker (NYSE: SYK)

$23,683

*****

3.1%

5

Winner Medical Group

$112

****

2.8%

6

MAKO Surgical

$1,021

****

2.7%

7

Kinetic Concepts

$3,897

*****

2.6%

8

Covidien

$26,006

*****

2.4%

9

Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX)

$11,155

***

2.3%

10

Baxter International (NYSE: BAX)

$30,932

****

2.2%

11

Zimmer Holdings

$11,787

****

2.0%

12

MELA Sciences (Nasdaq: MELA)

$89

**

1.8%

13

Mindray Medical International

$2,921

****

1.7%

14

Natus Medical

$492

*****

1.5%

15

Varian Medical Systems

$8,245

*****

1.3%

Sources: Motley Fool, Motley Fool CAPS.

Whether you're keeping an eye on the industry stalwarts like Becton Dickinson or are watching an up-and-comer like MELA Sciences, 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.