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 household durables stock is ...
Looking at the aggregate data, we see that Fortune Brands (NYSE: FO) is above the rest in terms of watch interest, the percentage of people keeping an eye on household durables stocks in general who are specifically watching each company. And for good reason. As CAPS All-Star TMFDeej wrote in December:

Should have, could have, would have. I should have added shares of Fortune Brands to my CAPS portfolio a while ago. Alas, I never did and today the company announced that it plans to spin-off its home and security business and either sell of spin-off its golf division.

I like the move.

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

Watch Interest

1

Fortune Brands

$9,746

 *****

14.8%

2

Garmin (Nasdaq: GRMN)

$7,029

 **

10.6%

3

Meritage Homes

$797

 *

8.2%

4

Leggett & Platt (NYSE: LEG)

$3,465

 ***

6.0%

5

SodaStream International (Nasdaq: SODA)

$785

 *

4.8%

6

Tupperware Brands

$3,714

 *****

4.7%

7

iRobot

$861

 ***

4.6%

8

Lennar

$3,313

 *

3.0%

9

NIVS IntelliMedia Technology Group (AMEX: NIV)

$106

 ****

2.8%

10

Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR)

$6,446

 ***

2.8%

11

Stanley Black & Decker

$12,622

 ***

2.7%

12

Mad Catz Interactive

$130

 ***

2.5%

13

Natuzzi

$258

 ***

2.4%

14

Deer Consumer Products (Nasdaq: DEER)

$229

 *

2.1%

15

Toll Brothers

$3,307

 *

2.0%

Source: Motley Fool, Motley Fool CAPS.

Whether you're keeping an eye on the industry stalwarts like Fortune Brands or are watching an up-and-comer like Deer Consumer Products, 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.

Dan Dzombak 's musings and articles he finds interesting can be found on his Twitter account: @DanDzombak.