Inside Active by Bloomberg Intelligence

Evaluating active managers requires more than looking at past performance. After two years of conversations with portfolio managers on Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual-fund and active-management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, steps back to examine what those discussions have taught him about identifying investment skill. He explores why sell discipline can reveal more about a process than the reasons for buying a stock, how factor exposure and market environments can complicate judgments about manager skill, and why common assumptions about fund size don’t always hold up in the data.  He also discusses how asset-weighted performance can offer a different view of active-management success and why the opportunity for active managers varies widely across asset classes and benchmarks. He also discusses why combining manager conversations with performance and portfolio data can provide a fuller picture of how an investment process works. Recorded Oct. 29.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As companies stay private longer, some of the most important emerging businesses remain out of reach for traditional publicly traded funds. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, Bloomberg Intelligence mutual fund and active management analyst, and co-host Sharoon Francis, BI associate analyst, speak with Tema ETFs founder and CEO Maurits Pot about how active ETFs can use special purpose vehicles to invest in late-stage private companies. They discuss how Tema sources and evaluates private-company investments, why due diligence on the SPV itself is as important as research on the underlying business and how managers approach valuation when there’s no continuously traded market price. They also explore how private holdings affect liquidity and portfolio construction, what happens as an ETF grows or a company goes public and how access to companies such as Anthropic, SpaceX, Kalshi and Polymarket can help build more complete thematic portfolios. Recorded Oct. 13.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Traditional value investing often focuses on companies trading at low multiples, but cheap stocks can reflect either opportunity or fundamental weakness. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Nancy Tengler, CEO and chief investment officer of Laffer Tengler Investments and a portfolio manager for the Wedbush Laffer Tengler New Era Value ETF (TGLR), about how she applies a broader definition of value. They discuss how relative dividend yield and price-to-sales can uncover opportunities, including among former growth stocks, and how fundamental research helps distinguish temporary mispricing from value traps. They also explore the importance of management, free cash flow and capital allocation, why patience matters when an investment thesis takes time to play out, and how valuation and conviction shape position sizing and sell discipline. Recorded Oct. 7.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emerging markets are often treated as a single market, but differences in economic cycles, currencies, governance and market structure can create vastly different opportunities from one country to the next. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, and co-host Sharoon Francis, associate analyst, speak with Malcolm Dorson, senior portfolio manager for emerging-market equities and head of emerging market strategy at Global X Management Company, about where active management can add value. They explore how concentration in broad emerging-market benchmarks can limit diversification, why governance and alignment with minority shareholders matter in security selection and how active managers navigate currency, political and liquidity risks. They also discuss targeted country exposure, the interplay between bottom-up research and macro analysis, and what could drive broader adoption of active emerging-market ETFs. Recorded Oct. 8.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Finding fast-growing companies is only part of the challenge for small- and mid-cap managers. The market’s expectations for that growth can matter just as much. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Brandon Nelson, portfolio manager for the Calamos Timpani Small Cap Growth Fund (CTSIX) and Calamos Timpani Active SMID Growth ETF (CTAG), about his fundamental-momentum approach to investing. They discuss how Nelson looks for sustainable and underestimated growth, why management’s handling of expectations matters and how valuation factors into security selection. They also explore the importance of letting winners run while maintaining strict sell discipline, how bottom-up research drives portfolio construction and why Nelson continues to see a broad opportunity set in small- and mid-cap stocks. Recorded Sept. 22.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Active management is transforming as investors embrace exchange-traded funds, fund expenses decline and financial advice evolves. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Shelly Antoniewicz, chief economist at the Investment Company Institute, about what’s driving those changes. They discuss why active and passive aren’t necessarily competing for the same dollar, what fund flows can and can’t tell us about investor behavior, and why mutual funds remain durable in retirement accounts even as ETFs gain ground elsewhere. They also explore the growth of active ETFs and collective investment trusts, how fee compression and changing adviser compensation are reshaping the economics of active management, and how active management could continue to evolve across investment vehicles and distribution channels. Recorded Sept. 24.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Growth investing is often associated with companies delivering rapid revenue and earnings growth, but the potential for capital appreciation can extend well beyond traditional growth stocks. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Alan Wilson, portfolio manager at Capital Group and principal investment officer of the Capital Group Growth ETF (CGGR), about how he defines and identifies growth. They discuss why valuation still matters, how Wilson looks several years ahead to uncover potential investments and why changing competitive advantages can make durable growth difficult to identify. They also explore how Capital Group’s multi-manager system shapes portfolio construction and conviction, why some of the most compelling growth prospects can emerge in unexpected parts of the market and how physical infrastructure constraints could create the next set of “coiled springs.” Recorded Sept. 16.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Choosing the right active manager can be just as important as choosing the right investment strategy, but past performance alone may reveal little about whether a manager’s success is repeatable. In this episode of the Inside Active podcast, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Tim Paulin, senior vice president of investments and practice consulting at Touchstone Investments, about how the firm identifies, evaluates and monitors outside investment managers. They discuss Touchstone’s version of the traditional four- or five-P framework, which looks at organizational stability, personnel, investment discipline, infrastructure and results, as well as how to separate investment skill from a favorable market environment. They also explore how portfolio holdings can reveal whether managers are staying true to their process, when underperformance should be tolerated, why investors often chase managers at the wrong time, and what the best active managers have in common over the long term. This edition was recorded on Sept. 9.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A broad investment mandate gives active managers the freedom to search across markets but also requires discipline in deciding where capital belongs. In this episode of the Inside Active podcast, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Tom Winmill, president and director of the Midas family of mutual funds and portfolio manager of the Midas Special Opportunities Fund (MISEX). They discuss why growing free cash flow and returns on capital are central to identifying quality businesses, how valuation changes with the margin for error and why Winmill prefers fundamentals over market narratives. They also explore portfolio concentration, letting winners compound, sell discipline, the impact of higher interest rates and why he is willing to wait for the economics of AI businesses to become clearer. Recorded September 2.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Inflation investing is often associated with commodities and real assets, but benefiting from rising prices can depend as much on a company’s business model as the assets it owns. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual-fund and active-management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with James Davolos, a portfolio manager of the Horizon Kinetics Inflation Beneficiaries ETF (INFL), about how he identifies businesses positioned to benefit from inflation. They discuss why capital-light business models can offer advantages in inflationary environments, how royalties and exchanges can provide exposure to rising nominal activity without the same operating and capital costs, and why commodity prices don’t necessarily need to rise for these businesses to compound. They also explore how Horizon Kinetics evaluates scarce assets, why the market may misprice businesses with lumpier cash flows, the importance of valuation and long-term terminal value, and how inflation-beneficiary equities can complement traditional portfolio allocations.  Recorded August 25. Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.