Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is certainly one of the 21st Century’s most notable companies. Founded with the money he got for developing the e-payment system PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), Elon Musk has become a larger-than-life CEO.

As a matter of fact, he has been so outspoken and controversial that as of this week, he no longer even holds a title at TSLA due to an agreement reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A overly spontaneous tweet got him into deep water, and formally exiting the company became necessary.

Musk has certainly become the Thomas Edison — or PT Barnum — of today, launching a rocket company as well as a solar panel company. His Tesla opened a massive battery factory in the Nevada desert and has pioneered not only electric cars but electric trucks and driverless vehicles.

It seems that every time people count him and his car company out, he comes back.

Most recently, TSLA stock was struggling to get production of its Model 3 up to projected output. There were also mumblings about the fact that while they were rolling 3’s off the line, Tesla was having a problem delivering them. That means the company can’t recognize the revenue.

Of course, when this kind of pressure starts to build up, Musk has tended to redirect the conversation to other aspects of the business like the electric tractor trailer or pick-up truck.

The Trouble With Getting a Read on TSLA Stock

That remains the toughest thing for analysts to figure out — how much of this is Musk hyping his products and how much value is really there. This is why the company sells at a premium yet has a huge amount of short sellers waiting for the fall.

Recently, the former vice chairman of General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) literally said that Tesla is headed for the graveyard. That’s a pretty powerful statement from a long-time car veteran. However, the Big 3 would never have made the moves they have into electric cars without the push of Tesla.

To do what TSLA stock has done is remarkable. Very few start-up car makers survive. Even car companies that have strong overseas markets can find it nearly impossible to break into the U.S. market.

Just this week, Faraday Future, a promising electric vehicle company has all but shut down operations because it ran out of funding before it could launch its high-performance car. And that tends to be the fate of many hopeful next-generation carmakers.

This is what sets TSLA apart. Granted, it may have troubles getting production up to snuff and it has had to build a sales model outside the usual dealership construct, but this quarter it actually turned a profit.

Its AutoPilot continues to come under scrutiny as mishaps continue to occur and it may be worth pulling the full-featured version for a while, just to avoid bad press and time- (and capital) consuming lawsuits.

But Tesla still dominates the electric vehicle market, even as some of the big global brands have entered the sector. We’ll see if the more traditional brands and their dealership and repair support win out over Tesla’s decentralized system, but for now TSLA stock is firing on all cylinders.

Louis Navellier is a renowned growth investor. He is the editor of four investing newsletters: Growth Investor, Breakthrough Stocks, Accelerated Profits and Platinum Growth. His most popular service, Growth Investor, has a track record of beating the market 3:1 over the last 14 years. He uses a combination of quantitative and fundamental analysis to identify market-beating stocks. Mr. Navellier has made his proven formula accessible to investors via his free, online stock rating tool, PortfolioGrader.com. Louis Navellier may hold some of the aforementioned securities in one or more of his newsletters.