Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is up nearly 7% in trading on Monday — closing in on the $300-a-share level for the first time — as the stock looks ready to break up and out of a long sideways consolidation range going back to 2014. The emergence of TSLA stock from a three-year uptrend is impressive.

And for CEO Elon Musk, cathartic as well proving his naysayers wrong: He took to Twitter to mock the shorts, as shown below, before triggering a flame war with tech reviewer Walt Mossberg about whether market capitalization is an honest testament of a company’s value.

Stormy weather in Shortville …

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2017

Feels like trolling to me.

The surge in TSLA stock came after Tesla reported first-quarter deliveries of over 25,000 vehicles — a 69% year-over-year increase and a new quarterly record.

The hype continues to build heading into the Model 3 production and delivery starts expected later this year. Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas, in a note to clients in late March, said the company’s efforts in autonomous technology could impart “superhuman” abilities to the driver and result in a car that is “an order of magnitude (i.e. 10x) safer than the average car.”

This is a big deal since, according to Jonas, nearly every manufacturer he has spoken to names safety as the number one determinant of car purchases.

Tesla will next report results on May 3 after the close. Analysts are looking for a loss of 75 cents per share on revenues of $2.56 billion.

This comes amid an ongoing cash burn to fund infrastructure and capacity investments ahead of the Model 3 launch — on revenues of $2.56 billion. However, funding fears were waylaid last week when China’s Tencent Holdings (OTCMKTS:TCEHY) disclosed a 5% passive stake.

Anthony Mirhaydari is founder of the Edge (ETFs) and Edge Pro (Options) investment advisory newsletters. Free two- and four-week trial offers have been extended to InvestorPlace readers.