Inside Active by Bloomberg Intelligence

Massif Capital’s Thomson on Real-Asset Equities

Shifting geopolitical risks, growing AI-driven power demand and consolidation across global energy markets are reshaping investment opportunities in oil, natural gas and real assets. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, and Vincent Piazza, senior energy analyst at BI, speak with Will Thomson, founder and managing partner of Massif Capital LLC. They discuss investing across energy, mining and other liquid real assets, and why commodity-producing companies are often misunderstood as simple bets on commodity prices. The conversation also explores how Thomson combines bottom-up company research with macro views on commodities and geopolitics, and why management teams, project execution and overlooked “orphan periods” can create opportunities for active managers, as well as structural natural gas trends and the challenge of managing volatility in cyclical sectors. Recorded May 5.   See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

State Street’s Paglia on Performance and Scale

Over the past decade, expanded market access through ETFs and new structures has raised questions about capacity, outcomes and what it means for active management. In this episode of the Inside Active podcast, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Anna Paglia, executive vice president and chief business officer for State Street Investment Management, about how the industry is moving beyond the traditional active-versus-passive debate as ETFs evolve into a vehicle for both. They explore how strong benchmarks and investor focus on returns are raising the bar for active managers, and how capacity and liquidity shape decisions around product structure. They also discuss the role of model portfolios in driving flows and the potential to expand access to private markets by improving transparency and liquidity. Recorded May 4. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Alger’s Crawford on Finding Durable Growth

Markets have recently been driven by a narrow set of AI-linked winners, but as these trends become widely recognized, the challenge is identifying what opportunities remain and what is already priced in. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Dr. Ankur Crawford, executive vice president and portfolio manager at Alger, including the Alger Focus Equity Fund (ALGRX) and Alger Concentrated Equity ETF (CNEQ), about how she identifies positive dynamic change across both disruptive growth companies and businesses undergoing reinvention. They explore how a longer-term investment horizon helps distinguish durable growth from hype, the role of deep research and pricing power in building conviction and how valuation shapes opportunities in AI. They also discuss concentrated portfolio construction, risk management and what differentiates being early from being wrong. Recorded April 21.   See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Avantis’ McInnis on Active vs. Passive Spectrum

Over the past decade, passive investing has dominated flows and performance, but the rapid growth of ETFs and evolving market dynamics are blurring the line between active and passive. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Phil McInnis, chief investment strategist at Avantis Investors, about how investors should think about this shift. They explore why active and passive exist more on a spectrum rather than as binary opposites, how systematic, valuation-driven approaches aim to deliver consistent excess returns, and why costs and implementation remain critical to long-term outcomes. They also discuss the rise of active ETFs, how allocators build portfolios across strategies, and what would signal a durable shift back toward active management. Recorded April 15. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

BlackRock’s Jeff Shen on Systematic Edge and AI

Despite geopolitical tensions, value has held up better than expected, while defensive strategies like low volatility and quality have failed to attract the typical safe-haven flows, suggesting markets are largely looking past the Iran war. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, and co-host Christopher Cain, US quantitative strategist at BI, speak with Jeff Shen, co-chief investment officer and co-head of BlackRock’s Systematic Active Equities. They discuss the evolution of systematic active equity and how advances in data, AI and machine learning are reshaping alpha generation. The conversation also explores factor timing, expansion beyond traditional factors into alternative data and new signals, and how portfolio construction and risk management are driving more consistent and differentiated outcomes. Recorded March 31.   See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.