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.

With this data we have come up with a new metric, watch interest, to inform investors what stocks their peers keep tabs on in each industry. In the case of the oil and gas services industry, watch interest is the percentage of people keeping an eye on oil and gas services stocks in general who are specifically watching each company. By looking at what stocks people are most interested in an industry, you can get ahead of the curve by finding hot stocks that you might have otherwise overlooked.

The most-watched oil and gas services stock is...
Looking at the aggregate data, we see that National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV) is above the rest in terms of watch interest and for good reason. As CAPS player mitleg wrote earlier this year:

It has always been a fantastic company. The leader in their field. With the ongoing turmoil in the middle east, and the upward pressure that the improving economy will put on oil prices it should continue to rise. Its forward growth is excellent.

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

National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV)

$32,834

 *****

20.9%

2

Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB)

$117,651

 *****

20.8%

3

Halliburton (NYSE: HAL)

$48,796

 ****

17.2%

4

Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI)

$31,393

 ****

6.9%

5

RPC (NYSE: RES)

$3,348

 ****

4.7%

6

North American Energy Partners (NYSE: NOA)

$203

 ****

2.5%

7

Cameron International (NYSE: CAM)

$12,947

 *****

2.3%

8

Helix Energy Solutions Group (NYSE: HLX)

$1,979

 ***

2.2%

9

WSP Holdings (NYSE: WH)

$69

 *****

2%

10

Global Industries (Nasdaq: GLBL)

$554

 *****

1.8%

11

Core Laboratories (NYSE: CLB)

$4,981

 *****

1.6%

12

Oceaneering International (NYSE: OII)

$4,410

 ****

1.6%

13

Lufkin Industries (Nasdaq: LUFK)

$2,334

 *****

1.5%

14

FMC Technologies (NYSE: FTI)

$10,522

 *****

1.4%

15

TETRA Technologies (NYSE: TTI)

$916

 *****

1.4%

Source: Motley Fool, Motley Fool CAPS.

Whether you're keeping an eye on the industry stalwarts like Schlumberger or are watching an up-and-comer like WSP Holdings, 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.