March 3 (Reuters) - Teleshopping and e-commerce operator HSN Inc's (HSNI.O) posted significantly better-than-expected quarterly profit helped by cost cuts and improved operating performance at its Cornerstone brand, sending its shares up 4 percent before the bell.

Curations from the Home Shopping Network - Photo: www.hsn.com

The company said net income for the fourth quarter was $39.4 million or 68 cents a share, compared with net loss of $2.15 billion, or $38.29 a share, a year ago.

Excluding items, the company earned 74 cents a share.

Revenue for HSNi, which competes with other multichannel retailers like QVC Inc and ValueVision Media Inc (VVTV.O), rose 8 percent to $838.7 million.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 46 cents per share on revenue of $760.2 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For the fourth quarter, total operating expenses fell 93 percent to $226.2 million, the company said in a statement.

Gross profit margin for Cornerstone brand, which largely includes home goods, improved 260 basis points to 42.2 percent.

Cornerstone brand had been suffering due to continued softness in consumer demand for luxury home furnishings and apparel, as well as a strategic reduction in catalog circulation.

Shares of the St Petersburg, Florida-based company were up 84 cents. They closed at $22.70 Tuesday 2 March on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Shobhana Chadha in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)