Friday morning futures were mixed after the August employment report sharply missed estimates. While the futures were only tracking a littles ways in both directions, the difference may be more pronounced when the markets open. In terms of the report, nonfarm payrolls increased by 235,000, massively decelerating from last month’s number and the unemployment came in at 5.2%.

Analysts were targeting a “robust” 750,000 jobs coming back in August, according to Bloomberg. Note that this is still an impressive number by prepandemic standards, but it does demonstrate a deceleration from July’s report, which saw 943,000 jobs added. Also, analysts were expecting the unemployment rate to narrow to 5.2% in August from July’s reported 5.4%.

While many expected the report to be a fairly positive one, it still reflected the surge in coronavirus cases that we saw across the United States over the past month. It goes without saying that the Federal Reserve also will be monitoring these numbers, per its dual mandate, and the report could influence the Fed’s monetary policy to come later this year. For now, the labor market appears to be improving and the Fed policy is favorable.

With major Wall Street firms still warning of the potential for impending 5% to 10% correction across the board, it makes sense for investors to continue building some cash reserves into any market strength while repositioning portfolios for the balance of 2021.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. Consensus analyst target data is from Refinitiv.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday, September 3, 2021.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ: ACB): Jefferies upgraded the stock to a Hold rating from Underperform. The shares have a 52-week range of $3.71 to $18.98, and Thursday’s close was at $7.44.

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO): The Summit Insights downgrade was to Hold from Buy. Cowen reiterated its Market Perform rating and raised the price target to $500 from $478. That compares with a $530.62 consensus target and Thursday’s close at $491.90.

Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR): T.D. Securities downgraded it to Hold from Buy and has an $870 price target. Shares last closed at $821.01, and the consensus price target is $820.48.

Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS): RBC Capital Markets started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $450 price target. Shares most recently closed at $396.38 and have a consensus price target of $402.33.

Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX): Argus lowered its Buy rating to Hold. The $161.66 consensus target is well below Thursday’s close at $170.00.

DocuSign Inc. (NASDAQ: DOCU): Needham reiterated a Buy rating and raised the price target to $340 from $275. The shares last closed at $294.57, and the consensus price target is $298.78.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI): Argus started coverage with a Buy rating and a $260 price target. Shares last closed at $211.91, and the consensus target price is $234.26.

PagerDuty Inc. (NYSE: PD): Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a Buy rating and raised the price target to $66 from $59. Shares last closed at $44.30, but they have traded as high as $58.36 in the past year.

Paycom Software Inc. (NYSE: PAYC): Zacks named this as its Bull of the Day stock. The analyst says that strong growth, and a Shark Tank investor, sent this human capital management cloud ninja to the stratosphere. Shares last closed at $500.80, while the consensus price target is still back at $472.50.

Vivint Smart Home Inc. (NYSE: VVNT): RBC Capital Markets resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $15 price target. Shares closed most recently at $12.98 apiece and have a consensus price target of $18.00.

With a bloated and overbought market, and the lack of a 5% correction in almost a year, shifting to some of the most dependable dividend-paying stocks makes sense now. Five Dividend Aristocrats are in sectors that are poised to do well for the rest of 2021.

See how the 10 most mentioned meme stocks performed in August.

Thursday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Advanced Micro Devices, Alkermes, Clover Health, Okta, Peloton Interactive, Starbucks and Unilever. More analyst calls were seen later in the day, including on Chewy, Five Below and Smith & Wesson.

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