We are up 145% in our Carnival (NYSE: CCL) trade, and it’s time to collect our gains.

Action to take: Sell your remaining CCL April 2015 $40 call option at a limit price of $6.20.

At last glance, it was trading at $6.6. At a limit of $6.20, we will lock in a gain of at least 130%.

We already pocketed a 100% gain by selling half of our position in mid-December. Now it’s time to sell the other half of our position as the Great Chill hits the U.S.

Months ago, Chris Orr forecast a “snowpocalypse” for the United States — another winter of polar vortexes, accompanied by unrelenting frigid temperatures and snowfall that would send snowbirds sprinting for a drop of sunshine. With temperatures plunging all the way into the Deep South this week, it shows that Chris was right on the money.

The weather pattern is why we originally bought our call options back in November on Carnival, the South Florida-based cruise-ship operator. With them, we’ve benefitted, just as expected, from weather-weary consumers flocking south for the winter.

This week highlights the pattern Chris has been talking about: 70% of the U.S. was assaulted by arctic cold. The Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin will face wind chills approaching 50 degrees below zero. Other places, like Chicago, will experience highs of 1 degree. And Chris tells me this cold snap will last until around January 13. In fact, another polar vortex is on the way, and it will strike sometime around January 25 with temperatures just as cold — if not colder — than this week’s readings.

All of that cold means a pickup in sales for Carnival, which investors immediately recognized. As a result, Carnival’s share price pushed higher in recent days, which means our call options, a leveraged play on the stock, have moved up nicely.

So, we will use this strength to lock in another triple-digit gain.

Until next time, good trading…

Jeff Opdyke

Editor, Precision Profits