Investors are bracing for bad news from retailers, who will start giving profit forecasts for 2010 in the coming weeks.

Wall Street analysts currently expect J.C. Penney to generate a 39-percent earnings gain this year after it reports results for the fiscal year just ended, according to Thomson Financial. But privately, some analysts and investors say they believe the company’s outlook will fall far short of that.

“You’re going to see a lot of conservative forecasts that are at the low end, or even far below, the forecasts that are currently out there for a lot of companies,” said Charles Grom, a retail analyst at J.P. Morgan.

That’s partly because the economy is still shaky, but Grom says conservative forecasts also will set a low hurdle for quarterly results. The easy-to-beat forecasts typically position stocks for steady appreciation as the year progresses.

“This gives investors the green light to buy stocks again,” Grom said.

Indeed, Wall Street has lately fretted over snowstorms that have caught many retailers short on cold-weather gear.

Demand for boots last week surged 110 percent from a year ago in the greater New York City area, according to Scott Bernhardt of weather consultant Plananalytics. Yet many stores in the city had no inventory for shoppers.