Now that the bulk of winter earnings season is over, it's easy to forget that there are some oddball companies that issue their reports way out of synch. One of those is Joy Global (JOYG), a coal mining equipment manufacturer. I guess when you spend all your time in a pit with heavy machinery running and diesel fumes in the air, you can't exactly be expected to act normally.

Well, it turns out that JOYG's second-fiscal-quarter report was worth waiting for. Before the opening bell today, executives reported the company earned 70 cents per share, which was a couple of pennies below consensus estimates. I realize that doesn't sound very good, and indeed shares traded lower in pre-market activity.

But you just had to wait for the conference call because that was where the company was able to explain that future quarters look a lot brighter. Helped by recovering U.S. coal prices and growing demand for coal-powered electricity, as well as tremendous demand overseas, executives lifted their 12-month earnings per share guidance to a range of $3.25 to $3.50 from the previous range of $2.85 to $3.25. Most analysts, including me, actually think JOYG is still being conservative.