July 18 Reuters Domino39;s Pizza forecast sequentially slower thirdquarter comparable sales on Thursday and trimmed its target for new international store openings, sending its shares down 13.

The company39;s target of opening more than 925 international outlets for the year is expected to fall short by about 275 after its Australiabased master franchisee said earlier this week it was closing lowvolume stores in Japan and France.

Domino39;s Pizza Enterprises is the brand39;s largest franchisee and has more than 3,800 stores in 12 international markets, according to Domino39;s Australia39;s website.

The market is anxious about risk going forward that this type of headwind will spread to more markets beyond Japan and France, Northcoast Research analyst Jim Sanderson said.

The company also suspended its target of having 1,100 global net new stores through 2024 to 2028. It currently has more than 14,000 international stores.

For the U.S. market, it expects comparable sales to rise 3 or more in the third and fourth quarters, compared with 4.8 reported in the second quarter.

Domino39;s CEO Russell Weiner said Americans continued to look for value. The company has catered to this demand through its refreshed loyalty program and offers such as the carryout boost weeks that provide a 50 weeklong discount.

However, Domino39;s will have one boost week each in the third and fourth quarters, compared with two boost weeks in the reported period.

It39;s a little bit of a…