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 specialty retailer stock is ...
Looking at the aggregate data, we see that Timberland (NYSE: TBL) is above the rest in terms of watch interest, the percentage of people keeping an eye on specialty retailer stocks in general who are specifically watching each company. And for good reason. As CAPS Member gweech wrote last week:

Solid company and solid products. [Timberland] shoes last forever and ever and ever. The US will always have an athletic outdoor bent to it and people will always buy this clothing at stores like REI. Unlike pure designer brands, [Timberland] has both utility and fashion built into one package.

Here are the rest of the top 15 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 
(out of 5)

Watch Interest

1

Timberland

$2,163

***

30.7%

2

Nike

$36,619

****

19.9%

3

Coach

$15,587

***

11.1%

4

Under Armour (NYSE: UA)

$3,780

****

7.3%

5

lululemon athletica (Nasdaq: LULU)

$6,352

*

5.7%

6

Deckers Outdoor (Nasdaq: DECK)

$3,370

***

3.7%

7

Volcom

$450

***

2.5%

8

Skechers USA (NYSE: SKX)

$975

****

2.2%

9

Fossil

$5,992

***

2.2%

10

CROCS (Nasdaq: CROX)

$1,611

*

1.7%

11

V.F.

$10,750

***

1.7%

12

Oxford Industries

$562

*****

1.1%

13

Cherokee (Nasdaq: CHKE)

$156

****

1.0%

14

GAP

$13,200

**

0.9%

15

Columbia Sportswear

$1,983

****

0.7%

Sources: Motley Fool, Motley Fool CAPS.

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