Walmart CEO Furner begins tenure with conservative outlook

By Juveria Tabassum and Aishwarya Venugopal

Feb 19 (Reuters) - Walmart's new CEO John Furner kicked off his tenure with a coming-year forecast that fell short of analyst expectations on Thursday, even as online demand from U.S. customers looking for quick deliveries bolstered revenue in the holiday quarter.

Walmart is increasingly banking on its e-commerce business to drive growth in a diverging U.S. consumer environment, and analysts were expecting some caution in the company's annual projections as  Furner enters his first quarter at the helm.

The company expects net sales to grow 3.5% to 4.5% for the coming year, which is similar to its initial outlook for the year that ended, but was below analysts' estimates of roughly 5% growth, according to data compiled by LSEG.

 Shares of the company, which also announced a fresh $30 billion buyback plan, reversed course from premarket losses to rise about 2% in early trading.

The stock has been a consistent outperformer, with gains of 22% over the last year that made it the