Head to Head Review: Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF (NASDAQ:EART) versus XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust (NYSE:XFLT)

Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF (NASDAQ:EART) and XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust (NYSE:XFLT) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Dividends

Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF pays an annual dividend of $0.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust pays an annual dividend of $5.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 27.4%. Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF pays out -2,624.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust pays out 574.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF and XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF	N/A	N/A	N/A	($0.01)	-4,764.54
XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust	$19.55 million	N/A	N/A	$0.87	21.01

Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

5.3% of Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF and XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF	0	1	1	0	2.45
XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust	0	0	0	0	0.00

Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF presently has a consensus target price of $32.68, suggesting a potential upside of 0.00%. Given Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF is more favorable than XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust.

Profitability

This table compares Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF and XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF	N/A	N/A	N/A
XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF beats XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF

The Global X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF seeks to invest in companies that produce rare earth components, metals, and other raw or composite materials essential to the expansion of critical technologies—such as electric vehicles, energy storage, robotics, and radar systems. Targeted companies include those involved in the exploration, mining, production, and/or enhancement of materials like rare earth elements, lithium, copper, cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, zinc, platinum, palladium, and carbon fiber.

The fund was previously known as the Global X Disruptive Materials ETF (ticker: DMAT) until March 2, 2026, when it was renamed and rebranded to EART.

About XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust

XAI Octagon Floating Rate & Alternative Income Term Trust invests in a dynamically managed portfolio of floating-rate credit instruments and other structured credit investments within the private markets. Under normal market conditions, the Trust will invest at least 80% of managed assets in senior secured loans, CLO debt and CLO equity.

The Trust seeks attractive total return with an emphasis on income generation across multiple stages of the credit cycle. There can be no assurance that the Trust will achieve its investment objective, and you could lose some or all of your investment.