NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Meet Evel Knievel, your fund manager.

He's buying tech and telecom stocks that have been so flattened you'd think they wouldn't have a pulse. Sun Microsystems, Tellabs, Ciena. Even Nortel and Lucent.

Think your manager couldn't possibly be such a daredevil with your money? Think again.

Plenty of mainstream mutual funds, some with billions in assets, have been dipping the proverbial toe into the tech/telecom morass. Here's a list of some fund managers who took the plunge -- and why they're not scared.

Marty Whitman, manager of the $2.3 billion Third Avenue Value and the $399 million Third Avenue Small-Cap Value funds, made a substantial foray into telecoms in the third quarter. Third Avenue Value has about 1.2 percent of its assets in Tellabs, while Third Avenue Small-Cap Value has 4.75 percent of its assets in Tellabs, Ciena, Comverse Technology, Sycamore Networks and Ulticom.

The telecom industry went on a spending spree in the booming '90s that led to way too much capacity (unused equipment and networks) and massive debt. There have been widespread bankruptcies, accounting scandals and thousands of layoffs. But Whitman said the industry is cleaning up its act, and the stocks are cheaper than if he had been a venture capitalist getting in on the first day. Managements are dedicated to cutting costs, the companies have plenty of cash, and the industry will reshape itself through consolidation.

"These are businesses with tremendous staying power," Whitman said. "I don't know how long this [telecom] depression is going to last, but it's a matter of being price conscious rather than outlook conscious. The prices are so crazy, I bet the portfolio works well."

That's why Whitman sees himself as a coward, rather than a cowboy: "Your protection comes in the price." (Click here for more on Whitman and how he has survived tough times on Wall Street.)

Bill Nygren, manager of the $3.3 billion Oakmark fund, doesn't see anything daring in buying Sun Microsystems for less than $3 a share in the third quarter. Buying the stock at its Internet-bubble peak of $65 a share? Now that's the equivalent of bungee jumping.

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At $2.80 a share, the stock was trading below book value -- assets minus liabilities. Half its market value was in cash. So he was paying $1.40 per share for the business. Even though the company wasn't earning a profit because business had slowed so much, research and development has remained strong. And Sun's Solaris operating system is state-of-the-art for high-end servers.

Still, Nygren is mindful that the stock price is volatile -- that's why it represents only 1 percent of the portfolio. (Most stocks in the fund have a 2 percent weighting.)

Hotchkis & Wiley likes Tellabs so much that it owns the stock in Hotchkis and Wiley Large Cap Value, Hotchkis and Wiley Mid Cap Value and Hotchkis and Wiley Small Cap Value, said manager Jim Miles. The funds each have $46 million to $118 million in assets.

Tellabs, based in Naperville, Ill., is a small but established telecom equipment provider that has forged solid relationships with its clients. It has no debt on its books, and its 5500 digital cross-connect product line carries 75 percent of all telephone calls in the United States. The stock, currently selling for about $7.49, traded as high as $70 back in 1999. The stock is up about 45 percent from its low earlier this year.

"Being a participant in this industry, it has been very difficult to tell what's going on," Miles said. "But will people continue to have phone service? Yes. Will people keep going online? Yes."

The $14 billion Vanguard Primecap and $3.5 billion Vanguard Capital Opportunity are subadvised by a team of star managers from California-based Primecap Management. They rarely talk about their strategies, but SEC filings show that they've owned small stakes in struggling telecoms such as Lucent and Nortel Networks for at least a year. They've also been recent buyers of the stocks, according to Morningstar.

Scott Cooley, an analyst at Morningstar, said managers Howard Schow, Theo Kolokotrones and Joel Fried have argued that with an ever-increasing need for high-speed Internet access, companies inevitably will have to start buying more equipment so their networks don't fall apart.

Telecoms represent nearly 0.7 percent of Primecap, and 0.6 percent of Capital Opportunity, compared with nearly 0.2 percent for the S&P 500, Morningstar said.

Third Avenue, Oakmark, and Hotchkis and Wiley all are value shops. Primecap and Capital Opportunity are blend funds -- dabbling in growth and value. But Bob Turner, a growth manager, started buying Tellabs, Nortel and JDS Uniphase in the past month or so. He owns all three names in the $12 million Turner Technology fund and also owns Tellabs in the $586 million Turner Mid Cap Growth fund.

How come value favorites are in his lineup? Turner looks for growth that exceeds expectations. All three companies are survivors that will be winners over the long term. He's not just looking for a short-term bounce; he plans to stay in telecom barring any unforeseen problems in the sector.

Still, he's not betting the ranch. Each of the stocks represents only 0.5 percent of the portfolios.