Growth investing has faced no shortage of challenges over the past decade, from shifting interest-rate regimes and benchmark concentration, to the rise of AI and unprecedented flows into passive strategies. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Doug Rogers, managing director at Morgan Stanley and portfolio manager on funds including the Eaton Vance Growth Fund (ELCIX) and Eaton Vance Focused Growth Opportunities Fund (EIFGX) about what it takes to generate alpha as an active growth investor in today’s market. They discuss why Rogers focuses on companies capable of delivering consistent, sustainable growth, how his team identifies innovation-driven inflection points, and the role rigorous debate plays in building conviction and challenging investment assumptions. They also explore valuation discipline, risk management, the impact of passive investing on markets, and why separating signal from noise has become increasingly important for long-term investors. 

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Over the past decade, passive investing has reshaped much of the investment landscape, but fixed income presents a different set of challenges and opportunities. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active-management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, spoke with Noah Wise, senior portfolio manager and head of global macro strategy for the Plus Fixed Income team at Allspring Global Investments about why active management may have a stronger case in bonds than in equities. They discuss how bond indexes are constructed, why passive investors can become increasingly exposed to the largest borrower and interest-rate risks and how the complexity of fixed-income markets creates opportunities for active managers. They also explore the role of central banks and other noneconomic buyers in shaping bond prices, and the importance of flexibility across duration, sectors and geographies. Recorded May 26.

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Europe and Japan’s earnings outlooks have improved, with double-digit growth expectations, though upgrades are concentrated in technology and energy, while inflation pressures could weigh on valuations. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, and co-host Laurent Douillet, senior equity strategist at BI, speak with Tom Coutts and Lawrence Burns, portfolio managers at Baillie Gifford, and subadvisers on the Vanguard International Growth Fund (VWIGX). They discuss why investors should still look beyond the US for long-term growth opportunities and how Baillie Gifford identifies durable growth companies. The conversation also explores international beneficiaries of the AI boom, why Japan is becoming more attractive, and how to balance valuation discipline with backing exceptional businesses over the long run. Recorded May 21.

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As investors gain access to an expanding universe of active strategies and investment structures, distinguishing durable investment skill from short-term performance has become increasingly important. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active-management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Paul Cavazos, chief investment officer at American Beacon Advisors, about what separates durable investment managers from those benefiting from favorable market environments. They discuss why philosophy, process and people matter more than recent returns, how quantitative and qualitative analysis complement each other in manager research, and why discipline and consistency often matter most during difficult market periods. The conversation also explores concentration risk, style drift, private markets and how manager oversight can help identify when an investment process begins to break down. Recorded May 21.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Over the past decade, technology investing has been dominated by a handful of mega-cap companies, but AI is opening the door to a broader and potentially very different set of future winners. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active-management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Dominic Rizzo, portfolio manager of the T. Rowe Price Global Technology Equity Fund (PRGTX) and the T. Rowe Price Technology ETF (TTEQ), about his investment framework. They explore how Rizzo identifies linchpin technologies and improving fundamentals, and why active managers may be better positioned than passive strategies to uncover the next generation of tech winners. The conversation also covers valuation, portfolio concentration, AI’s effect on productivity and growth, and how private companies like OpenAI and Anthropic fit into the opportunity set. This episode was recorded March 30.

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