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 oil and gas stock is ...
Looking at the aggregate data, we see that Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) is above the rest in terms of watch interest, the percentage of people keeping an eye on oil and gas stocks in general who are specifically watching each company. And for good reason. As CAPS player L0RDZ wrote in February:

I believe that Chesapeake will outperform the market based upon their expertise in horizontal drilling, based upon the upward directional price increases in the energy markets, specifically oil in which they have make a strategic move toward developing more oil assets.

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

Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK)

$19,406

 *****

9.3%

2

SandRidge Energy (NYSE: SD)

$4,440

 ****

5.6%

3

Linn Energy (Nasdaq: LINE)

$6,983

 ****

4.0%

4

Kodiak Oil & Gas (NYSE: KOG)

$1,147

 ***

3.5%

5

ATP Oil & Gas (Nasdaq: ATPG)

$815

 ****

3.3%

6

Cheniere Energy

$775

 **

3.2%

7

Ultra Petroleum

$7,084

 *****

3.0%

8

Hyperdynamics (NYSE: HDY)

$669

 *

2.7%

9

Statoil

$79,265

 *****

2.4%

10

Brigham Exploration

$3,650

 ***

2.2%

11

Penn West Petroleum

$10,933

 ****

2.2%

12

Delta Petroleum

$133

 ****

1.8%

13

Devon Energy

$33,975

 *****

1.7%

14

Petrohawk Energy

$7,464

 ****

1.6%

15

Samson Oil & Gas (NYSE: SSN)

$251

 **

1.5%

Source: Motley Fool, Motley Fool CAPS.

Whether you're keeping an eye on the industry stalwarts like Chesapeake or are watching an up-and-comer like ATP Oil & Gas, 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.