I follow quite a lot of companies -- some more closely than others -- so the usefulness of a watchlist to me cannot be overstated. Without my watchlist, I'd be unable to keep up on my favorite sectors and what's really moving the market. Even worse, without my watchlist, I'd be lost when it came time to choose what stock I'm buying or shorting next.

What I intend to do as an experiment is to make every Wednesday "Watchlist Wednesday," where I'll discuss three companies that have crossed my radar in the past week and at what point I may consider taking action on these calls with my own money. Keep in mind these aren't concrete buy or sell recommendations, nor do I guarantee I'll take action on the companies being discussed weekly. What I can promise is that you can follow my real-life transactions through my profile, and that I, like everyone else here at The Motley Fool, will continue to hold the integrity of our disclosure policy in the highest regard.

Broadvision (Nasdaq: BVSN)
What a difference a decade makes. In 1999, business-to-business software was supposed to revolutionize the Internet, and Broadvision commanded a market value of $10 billion. Today, after a one-for-25 reverse split, Broadvision trades at a market cap of just north of $120 million and is still losing money.

That, however, hasn't stopped the B2B company and its now-small float from attracting hoards of day traders, who have flocked to the stock in droves over the past month. Up 250% over just the past month, Broadvision doesn't have much going for it beyond its $57 million in cash and no debt. Broadvision's erratic history has yielded six annual losses in the past 10 years, and its sales have contracted from $244 million in 2002 to only $18 million over the trailing-12-month period. From what I can see, nothing has changed fundamentally in years, and if Broadvision's volume remains this high, I may attempt to take a short position in the stock.

Integra LifeSciences (Nasdaq: IART)
If you haven't taken the hint already that I'm generally a life sciences and medical devices bull, then perhaps now is the time to cement it in stone.

Integra has issued two straight cautious earnings forecasts which have tanked its stock price, yet these "warnings" haven't amounted to more than a 2%-4% EPS miss at the worst in each case. Integra's core surgical implants and devices business is growing in the mid-single digits, and it's suffering from the same global slowdown that life sciences instrumentation provider Waters (NYSE: WAT) alluded to yesterday when its shares actually popped 10% higher. However, Integra's forward P/E of 8 puts it at half that of Waters, and its 10-year annualized sales growth of 22.9% absolutely crushes Waters' 6.7% annualized growth rate. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the GARP model (growth at a reasonable price), but Integra fits the bill perfectly, and I may look to take a position.

Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI)
Just because Baker blew it doesn't mean you should ignore this drilling darling. Yesterday, Baker Hughes released fourth-quarter results which highlighted a 45% jump in earnings and a 22% jump in sales. You'd think that'd be enough to satisfy Wall Street, but these both missed the Street's consensus figures as costs rose an unexpected 26%. But I'm not giving up on Baker Hughes, and neither should you.

Although rival Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) was able to surpass consensus estimates last week, it also warned that a slowdown in Europe could be troublesome to its bottom line in 2012. With everyone in the oil service equipment provider sector going through similar growing pains and dealing with abnormally low natural gas prices, it doesn't make sense to me that Baker Hughes should trade at only nine times forward earnings and 1.3 times book value while Schlumberger is valued at 12 times forward earnings and more than three times book value. I may look to buy soon.

Foolish roundup
Is my bullishness or bearishness misplaced? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and consider following my cue by adding these three companies to your free and personalized watchlist to keep up on the latest news with each company.