Public E&P Is Broken, Cambridge Activism, & Why Energy Stocks Stay Unloved | BDE 12.24.25

Trading rigs and rock samples for spreadsheets and shareholder battles, Mark Viviano, CFA from Kimmeridge walks through how he stumbled into energy investing, why shale rewired valuation thinking, and how the sector managed to grow like crazy while lighting free cash flow on fire. The convo hits consolidation, why big institutions mostly hide in the top names, and why activism plus a technical bench might be the only way to get boards to move faster.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 Safe harbor and why this convo exists01:15 Mark’s path into investing03:05 Building credentials and breaking into research05:16 Landing on the energy team08:03 Conventional to shale and valuation shifts13:18 The negative free cash flow era16:29 Why energy shrank inside the S&P17:24 Too many public E&Ps and consolidation20:18 Institutions hug the biggest names23:06 Expertise drain and small caps struggle28:54 Leaving Wellington and joining Kimmeridge32:03 Why activism matters in energy37:05 Timing the move into 202040:10 How activism fits the sector today47:57 Portfolio quality over top down labels57:39 Gas, power, and AI data center demand01:01:11 New revenue streams and the next cyclehttps://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters