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 Aerospace & Defense stock is ...
Looking at the aggregate data, we see that Boeing (NYSE: BA)  ranks above the rest in terms of watch interest -- the percentage of people keeping an eye on Aerospace & Defense stocks in general who are specifically watching each company.

Boeing's earned that top spot for good reason. As CAPS player colby1725 wrote in February, "With the recent deal with Air Force on replacing the refueling tankers and with the much awaited Dreamliner 787s arrival soon, this company is on a path to soar though 2011 and beyond."

Here are the rest of the top 15 most-watched companies in the industry, their respective watch interest, and each stock's CAPS rating, to indicate our investing community's sentiment.

  Company Market Cap (millions) CAPS Rating Watch Interest

1

Boeing

$55,422

***

15.7%

2

Raytheon (NYSE: RTN)

$17,317

****

10.9%

3

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT)

$28,140

****

10.7%

4

United Technologies (NYSE: UTX)

$82,694

****

6.7%

5

Honeywell International

$46,858

****

6.6%

6

National Presto Industries (NYSE: NPK)

$707

*****

5.6%

7

General Dynamics

$27,774

****

5.1%

8

Northrop Grumman

$19,893

****

4.3%

9

L-3 Communications Holdings

$9,051

****

3.7%

10

AeroVironment

$795

****

3.2%

11

Textron (NYSE: TXT)

$6,435

***

2.7%

12

TASER International (Nasdaq: TASR)

$273

***

2.1%

13

Teledyne Technologies

$1,856

*****

2.1%

14

Precision Castparts

$23,425

*****

1.8%

15

ITT

$10,832

*****

1.5%

Source: Motley Fool, Motley Fool CAPS.

Whether you're keeping an eye on the industry stalwarts like Boeing, or watching an up-and-comer like AeroVironment, it pays to stay vigilant. We can help you keep tabs on your companies with My Watchlist, our free, personalized stock tracking service. Click here to start now.