Elon Musk quiets doubters with Tesla stock rise

While those who work on Wall Street get their report cards every day the market is open, it’s a fool’s game to pay too much attention to the short term. And it’s even more foolhardy to bet against pure genius.

Many Wall Streeters and media types did both by writing off Elon Musk and Tesla 18 months ago, after his ill-conceived tweet that said, “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.”

While the tweet ran afoul of the SEC and was decidedly a faux pas by the effervescently eccentric Musk, it had zero bearing on his brilliance, or his ability to keep the motor running at Tesla — and deliver, time and time again.

The pseudo-intellectual short-fund crowd, who are convinced they are smarter than everybody else, bet against Musk.

But they should check their shorts at the door. Tesla stock is up 98 percent in just the past three months, and he’s dancing all the way to the bank.

Let’s look at the facts: Musk created X.com, which eventually went on to become PayPal.

Plus, he’s a real-life “rocket scientist” via his SpaceX company, which sends rockets into space to drop off satellites, then brings the reusable boosters back to Earth.

He also built SolarCity, maker of solar panels, and merged it into Tesla, the company he founded to make the first bona fide electric car in mass production.

Tesla’s market cap, now at $85 billion, is essentially larger than that of GM and Ford combined, as its stock has been approaching the mystical $500 mark.

Whether or not you care for Musk’s hard-driving (sorry), never-say-never style, there’s no arguing he has delivered. He loves challenge and competition — and he’s willing to be the hardest-working CEO on the planet in order to earn a good report card.