A flurry of sales driven by Barbie’s 50th birthday wasn’t enough help for Mattel Inc.

The company reported a loss of $51 million, or 14 cents a share, during the first quarter, compared with a loss of $47 million a year ago.

Revenue at the El Segundo-based company was $786 million, down 15 percent from a year ago.

Both and revenues were slightly below some analysts’ expectations.

“The sales weakness was broad-based, although international sales declined much more significantly 23 percent — than did domestic sales at 6 percent,” wrote analysts at Los Angeles-based Wedbush Morgan Securities in a note to investors.

But other analysts had expected worse. Mattel shares rose more than 12 percent to $14.63 in early trading on Friday.