getDataFormatString may return random results due to the unsynchronized usage of the static fields lastDateFormat, lastFormats and getDataFormatStringCache. The methods getDataFormatString and cloneStyleFrom should use synchronized (HSSFCellStyle.class) { ... }
I hopefully just fixed via Bug 56563 albeit a bit differently to avoid the expansive synchronization at this point. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 56563 ***