The stock price of Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) has gone into overdrive lately, gaining six percent over the last week, while the NASDAQ index showed a slight loss.

The stock price of Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) has gone into overdrive lately, gaining six percent over the last week, while the NASDAQ index showed a slight loss. Several analysts have noted that the price has broken through a key resistance level around $32, and is within striking distance of its all-time high.

Tesla had a wave of good news a week ago, as it announced that next year’s planned production run of the Model S has already sold out, and that the company booked a healthy revenue increase for the quarter. CEO Elon Musk boldly predicted that Tesla would turn a profit in 2013.

As the only publicly-traded automaker that makes only EVs, Tesla is about the only “pure play” available to investors who want to make a bet on the EV industry. The risk, and the potential reward, of buying TSLA are like those of driving one of the company’s Roadsters flat-out on a winding mountain road – both are guaranteed to raise your heart rate.

Arguments for a record-breaking finish: Tesla is a flagship company in an infant industry with galactic potential, it has backers with deep pockets, and it’s a tempting takeover target. Tesla has agreements to supply its powertrains to a couple of the major automakers, one of which might decide they want to make it their own. EV writer John Voelcker opined in a May article that a takeover is inevitable, even though Mr Musk says the company’s not for sale.

Arguments for a fiery crash: Any profits are still a ways down the road, and the track for tech startups has no guardrails. Unforeseen road conditions – production delays, battery costs, plummeting petroleum prices – could make investors hand back the keys.

Image: Tesla Motors