CLOX vs JAAA

CLOXBEldridge AAA CLO ETF

JAAAAJanus Henderson AAA CLO ETF

In short

CLOX A 2023 arrival in the AAA CLO rush: top-rated slices of leveraged loan pools, roughly 70 of them, with income paid monthly. The 0.20% fee undercuts the cohort median and matches the category's biggest names.

JAAA The AAA CLO trade in an ETF wrapper, running since 2020: floating-rate exposure to the senior slice of the corporate loan stack, aiming for capital preservation and income, at a fee below the group norm.

Stated mandate

CLOX The fund aims to generate current income and preserve capital.

JAAA The fund seeks capital preservation and current income through floating-rate exposure to high-quality AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations.

Why people hold it

• CLOX Fee of 0.20% undercuts the cohort median of 0.25% and matches the largest names in the category (JAAA, CLOA, FAAA, ACLO).
• The mandate is plain English: current income and capital preservation. Distributions are paid monthly.
• Moderately traded with an asset base in the hundreds of millions, so it is not a thin, brand-new ticker.
• Sits in the upper half of its AAA CLO peer group, a cohort stacked with large, well-resourced managers.

• JAAA Costs 0.20% a year, under the typical fee in its CLO peer group, and the newer AAA CLO rivals (CLOA, FAAA, ACLO) cluster at that same number rather than undercutting it.
• Very actively traded and a multi-billion-dollar fund, which is real market depth for an asset class that mostly lives in institutional hands.
• AAA CLO tranches pay floating coupons, so income resets as short-term rates move instead of being locked in. Distributions land monthly.
• Spread across roughly 400 positions at the top AAA rung of the loan capital stack, so no single deal carries the fund. One of the stronger builds in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• CLOX Roughly 70 positions in one corner of structured credit. That makes it a specialist income sleeve rather than a broad core bond holding.
• CLO debt pays floating rates, so the monthly income moves with short-term rates instead of locking in a fixed coupon.
• Crowded shelf: PGIM's PAAA charges 0.19% and several rivals match CLOX at 0.20%, so the price edge is over the median, not the leaders.

• JAAA Actively managed with no declared index behind it, so which deals and tranches the fund owns comes down to the manager, not a published rulebook.
• Floating rate cuts both ways: when short-term rates fall, the income these deals throw off falls with them.
• AAA is the senior rung, but it is still corporate loan credit, not Treasuries. The fund's stated aim is capital preservation, not a guarantee of it.

Full CLOX profile⁠

Full JAAA profile⁠