UPDATE: Barnes & Noble Shares Dip On Earnings Miss

Shares of Barnes & Noble

slipped more than 8% in pre-market trading after the company reported weaker-than-expected fiscal second-quarter profit. The company also announced that it is ending its commercial deal with Microsoft

. The New York-based company posted a quarterly profit of $12.3 million, or $0.12 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $13.2 million, or $0.15 per share. Its sales dropped to $1.69 billion from $1.73 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.31 per share on revenue of $1.69 billion. Revenue for the Retail segment slipped 3.6% to $888 million for the quarter, while revenue for the College segment gained 1.9% to $751 million. The NOOK segment revenue tumbled 41.3% to $64 million for the quarter. The company's comparable sales declined 3.6% in the quarter. Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization slipped to $68 million from $76 million. “Retail and College improved their sales trends during the second quarter and NOOK continued its rationalization efforts, while recently launching several initiatives to increase NOOK users and content sales,” said Michael P. Huseby, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. For FY15, Barnes & Noble expects comparable sales to fall in the low-single digits. Barnes & Noble shares dipped 8.95% to $20.25 in pre-market trading.