Three months ago I recommended the purchase of a LEAP, or long term call option, on Lam Research (LRCX), at a strike price of $95 expiring on January 18, 2018. At that time I noted (“Taking  a LEAP (or Two) on Large Cap Tech”), “Analysts are projecting that Lam, a leader in the fast-growing 3D NAND memory chip market, will grow revenue at more than twice its historic pace over the next several years.”

So far that expectation appears to be coming into fruition, with Lam’s share price rising 12% since I wrote those words. That’s a nice return in only ten weeks, especially during a period of time that the S&P 500 has declined by half a percentage point. However, even more impressive is the 50% gain in the LEAP I suggested, priced at $10 when we first recommended it and now trading above $15.

As impressive as that gain is, I am not yet closing out this position as I believe Lam still has plenty of upside potential, and a lot of time to realize it before this option expires. I feel LEAPs are ideally suited for investing in large cap tech stocks, since they can magnify their steady growth in profits that the stock market tends to ignore in favor of sexier “hot tech” stocks.

Lam announced that it will be releasing its most recent quarterly earnings report next Wednesday after the stock market close. I’m not expecting any fireworks, but this company doesn’t need any pyrotechnics to keep its stock moving upward with its share price valued at less than 14 times future earnings.

Due to its management team’s reputation for delivering consistently solid results, Lam enjoys very strong institutional sponsorship. In fact, due to mathematical distortion created by short interest in the stock, institutional ownership of LRCS computes to 101.7% of its float, or shares outstanding. So long as those investors remain on board, there simply isn’t enough LRCX stock trading in the market to satisfy retail demand, forcing new buyers of Lam to bid up its share price.

It’s not often that I pass up the chance to lock in an annualized gain in excess of 200%, but in this case I recommend you resist the temptation to cash in your Lam LEAPs, and continue to hold them so long as the company can continue to maintain its steady growth rate.