Newsletter guru Jim Oberweis is finding a lot of value in an area of the market that was hit hard by the recent recession: semiconductor capital equipment stocks.

“After a tough decade for technology, I believe the time is ripe for chip-equipment companies,” Oberweis says in his latest Forbes column. “When [chip fabricators] stopped buying equipment in 2008 amid the severe economic downturn, these stocks were crushed,” he says. But while spending began to rebound in 2009 and many capital equipment stocks have more than doubled off their lows, “price/earnings ratios for many smaller equipment makers remain low by historical measures,” Oberweis says.

Oberweis says talks with industry executives have led him to believe that Wall Street is “overly paranoid” about slowdowns in the industry. “Bearish sentiment in this arena is as bad as I can remember, but the facts don’t seem to back it,” he says, adding, “Barring a disastrous double-dip recession, these stocks are cheap, and they could pay off big.”

Oberweis does say that these stocks are riskier than, say, dividend-paying consumer staples. But he says by doing your homework and being selective you can help mitigate that risk.