Janus Henderson AAA CLO ETF

Janus Henderson AAA CLO ETF (JAAA) is an actively managed bond fund that holds mostly AAA-rated slices of collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), bundles of loans to lower-rated companies. Its floating-rate, top-rated holdings have kept price swings small: its deepest drop, in 2022, was 2.7%. The trade-offs are a 0.20% expense ratio, versus a 0.05% average for the corporate bond funds it is compared with, and income that shrinks if short-term rates fall.

• Over the year to Nov 2, 2026, JAAA returned +4.9%, 1st of 8 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +5.0%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (+0.5%); its best was 2023 (+8.6%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 2.7% (Feb 4, 2022 to Jul 19, 2022), recovered by Dec 19, 2022.

As of Jul 31, 2026, the fund held 598 securities; the ten largest made up 6.76% of assets.

The bonds mature in 11.4 years on average (weighted by size), with an average coupon of 4.99%.

• Over the three months to Jul 31, 2026, investors added a net $2.31B (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +0.47%, +0.30%, +0.41%.

JAAA is actively managed and does not track an index. A CLO pools loans, mostly to companies with lower credit ratings, and splits the pool into slices, or tranches. AAA tranches carry the top credit rating and are first in line to be paid. Janus Henderson aims to keep at least 80% of the fund in AAA tranches and the rest in CLOs rated A- or higher when purchased.

Holdings are picked one at a time, after vetting the outside firm that manages each CLO's loans. No single CLO can exceed 5% of the portfolio, and no one manager's CLOs can exceed 15%. Up to 30% can be in non-dollar CLOs, hedged back to dollars. As of July 31, 2026, the fund had 598 holdings. The 10 largest, led by KKR CLO 35 at 0.85%, made up 6.76% of assets.

There is no set rebalancing schedule. The managers can trade any day, replacing holdings when they spot mispricing or their view changes. Portfolio turnover, a gauge of trading, was 94%. Derivatives are limited to currency hedges, swaps that convert fixed-rate payments to floating, and total return swaps capped at 10% of net assets. Because most coupons reset with short-term rates, prices react less to rate changes than fixed-rate bonds do, but income falls when rates fall.

• JAAA charges 0.2% a year, versus an average of 0.05% for the similar funds below (8th of 8, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $20 in the first year and $255 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

Its mostly AAA-rated, floating-rate CLOs have produced small price swings and monthly income, so it may serve as a lower-volatility reserve, though it carries credit risk that bank deposits do not.

JAAA launched in October 2020, so it has no record from the 2008 crisis or the 2020 COVID crash. During the 2022 stock market slump it lost 1.8%. Its deepest drop, 2.7% from February to July 2022, was recovered within five months, and its weakest calendar year, 2022, ended up 0.49%. For someone drawing cash in a bad year, that points to modest losses. But the record is short, and a wave of defaults on the lower-rated loans behind CLOs would be a sterner test.

Over the 12 months to October 27, 2026, it paid $2.44 a share, a 4.82% yield, in monthly installments that move with short-term rates. Costs run 0.20% a year, or $20 in year one on $10,000 in the SEC's standard example. Past results don't predict future ones, and any plan needs to weigh the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by bond funds with the closest average maturity and issuer mix (N-PORT).