Convert string to date then format the date

Use SimpleDateFormat#format(Date):

String start_dt = "2011-01-01";
DateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-DD"); 
Date date = (Date)formatter.parse(start_dt);
SimpleDateFormat newFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("MM-dd-yyyy");
String finalString = newFormat.format(date);

String start_dt = "2011-01-31";

DateFormat parser = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd"); 
Date date = (Date) parser.parse(start_dt);

DateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("MM-dd-yyyy"); 
System.out.println(formatter.format(date));

Prints: 01-31-2011