Utility class in Spring application - should I use static methods or not?

Question

Let's say I have a utility class DateUtil (see below). To use this method a caller method uses DateUtils.getDateAsString(aDate). Would it be better to remove the static modifier and make DateUtil a spring bean (see DateUtilsBean) and inject it into calling classes or just leave it as is?

One disadvantage I can see with using static is issues around mocking, see How to mock with static methods?

public class DateUtils {

    public static String getDateAsString(Date date) {       
        String retValue =  "" // do something here using date parameter
        return retValue;
    }
}

Spring Bean version

@Component
public class DateUtilsBean {

    public String getDateAsString(Date date) {      
        String retValue =  "" // do something here using date parameter
        return retValue;
    }
}

Answer 1

I don't think so. A DateUtils class sounds like a pure utility class that doesn't have any side effects but just processes input parameters. That kind of functionality may as well remain in a static method. I don't think it's very likely that you'll want to mock date helper methods.