NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Barnes & Noble Inc. Thursday posted slightly better results from operations in its fiscal second quarter, but the leading book retailer cut its revenue and profit forecasts due to recent sales trends.

The company earned $1.4 million, or 2 cents a share, in the quarter ended Aug. 3, up from the near breakeven results from operations in the year-earlier period. But the second quarter included a charge of $14.7 million, or 13 cents a share, to write off the remaining carrying value of some investments.

Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call had a consensus earnings-per-share forecast of 10 cents. Joe Cooper of the First Call research department couldn't say whether the analysts will include the 13 cent charge against earnings, meaning the company missed estimates by 8 cents a share, or whether they would exclude it, meaning the company would top forecasts by 5 cents a share.

The company said it now expects sales at stores open at least a year to rise 2 or 3 percent in the second half of the year, rather than its earlier guidance of a 4 or 5 percent gain, and it expects third-quarter EPS of 7 cents and fourth-quarter EPS of $1.35.

That's better than First Call's third-quarter EPS forecast of 5 cents but far below its fourth-quarter EPS forecast of $1.64.

Shares of Barnes & Noble (BKS: down $1.22 to $22.21, Research, Estimates) fell sharply in early trading Thursday after the announcement.

The company said its core bookstores division produced income of $13.6 million or 20 cents a share, which it said met forecasts, while its share of the earnings from GameStop stores in which it has a 60 percent stake was $2.5 million, or 4 cents a share, which it said was 3 cents a share better than expected.

The company said its share of losses from Barnes & Noble.com (BNBN: down $0.07 to $0.70, Research, Estimates) was $4.5 million, or 7 cents a share, which it said met expectations while improving from year-earlier losses of $6.6 million, or 10 cents a share. But it's the company's other investments that really hurt results. Besides the 13-cent a share charge to write down its investment in iUniverse.com, BOOK magazine, Indigo Books & Music Inc. and enews, inc., the company said it also lost another 2 cents a share from Calendar Club, compared with a 3-cent-a-share loss a year earlier.

Overall revenue at the company rose 10.4 percent to $1.16 billion in the quarter, up from $1.05 billion a year earlier.