Oct 10 (Reuters) - Domino's Pizza fell short of

Wall Street estimates for third-quarter U.S. comparable sales

growth on Thursday as restaurant operators intensified their

pursuit for price-conscious customers by doubling down on value

offers.

The world's largest pizza chain has ramped up promotions and

deals and refreshed its loyalty program to provide more frequent

rewards at lower price tiers.

Still, bumped up promotions by burger chains, such as

McDonald's $5 meal deal, in the second half of the year

could be pressuring demand for Domino's usually value-driven

pizzas, analysts have said.

Foot traffic at Domino's for July through September

increased 8.3% on an average, compared with a year earlier,

slower than the average 10.7% in April-June, according to data

from Placer.ai.

In comparison, foot traffic rose 0.3% for McDonald's for

July through September.

Domino's U.S. same-store sales increased 3% in the three

months ended Sept. 8, below expectations of 3.6% rise, according

to estimates compiled by LSEG.

This week, Domino's brought back its emergency pizza offer,

extending until Jan 19. The deal, which helped drive sign-ups

for the company's loyalty program last year, allows customers to

redeem a free pizza on some online orders within 30 days.

"Domino's continues to lead peers given the positive traffic

report. Average check may suffer from discounting. But we

believe the current strategy will drive market share growth,"

said Jim Sanderson, analyst at Northcoast Research.

International same-store sales growth of 0.8% was below

expectations of 2.9%, with the company trimming its annual

global retail sales growth target to 6% from an earlier forecast

of 7% rise.

Markets in Asia and Europe saw pressure from weak

macroeconomic conditions as well as underperformance at its

stores, while increasing geopolitical tensions weighed on sales

in the Middle East in the quarter.

Domino's also cut its global net store growth target for the

second straight quarter.

Still, higher franchise royalties and fees and margin growth

in its supply chain business helped Domino's third-quarter

profit per share of $4.19 beat estimates of $3.65.

Shares of the company were down 1.5% in early trading.