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 energy services stock is ...
Looking at the aggregate data, we see that National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV) tops the rest in terms of watch interest -- the percentage of people keeping an eye on energy services stocks in general who are specifically watching each company.

Fool analyst Rex Moore recently concluded that National Oilwell Varco was one of the top 10 values in the oil & gas industry. Rex likes the company's relatively low price-to-earnings level, high future expected growth, and low debt to capital.

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

National Oilwell Varco

$32,961

*****

28.8%

2

Atwood Oceanics (NYSE: ATW)

$2,858

*****

20.7%

3

Transocean

$25,129

*****

8.5%

4

Schlumberger

$118,374

*****

3.6%

5

Total S.A.

$123,100

*****

2.9%

6

Unit 

$2,773

*****

2.1%

7

Noble

$11,002

*****

2.0%

8

Weatherford International (NYSE: WFT)

$15,117

*****

2.0%

9

Halliburton

$40,516

****

2.0%

10

Provident Energy Trust (NYSE: PVX)

$2,300

****

1.8%

11

Dawson Geophysical

$337

*****

1.8%

12

Hercules Offshore (Nasdaq: HERO)

$649

****

1.6%

13

Diamond Offshore Drilling

$10,342

****

1.5%

14

SeaDrill (Nasdaq: SDRL)

$87,066

*****

1.1%

15

Precision Drilling (NYSE: PDS)

$3,380

*****

1.1%

Sources: Motley Fool, Motley Fool CAPS.

Whether you're keeping an eye on the industry stalwarts like National Oilwell Varco or are watching an up-and-comer like Hercules Offshore, 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.