Is Fred Eshelman putting on the red light?

This statement is even more ambiguous than his usual blather:

Though the company says it usually doesn’t comment on speculation, Executive Chairman Fred Eshelman said, “We are not engaged in any discussions around a combination with other clinical research providers.”

Of course PPD's stock is up, since those Wall Street idiots love it when somebody says something they can't comprehend. If we're lucky, Eshelman will declare "mission accomplished" here and move to another state so he can fuck up its government. I usually don't condone pushing my problems on somebody else, but...