diff --git a/lib/manager/npm/extract/index.js b/lib/manager/npm/extract/index.js
index c17434d9f8a9471f3c343a6a8060d18ac5a8839d..d99d6cc1a209bc39637d89634ca963089b2f8417 100644
--- a/lib/manager/npm/extract/index.js
+++ b/lib/manager/npm/extract/index.js
@@ -138,6 +138,9 @@ async function extractDependencies(content, packageFile, config) {
             if (dep.currentValue === '*') {
               dep.skipReason = 'any-version';
             }
+            if (dep.currentValue === '') {
+              dep.skipReason = 'empty';
+            }
           } else {
             dep.skipReason = 'unknown-version';
           }
diff --git a/test/manager/npm/extract/__snapshots__/index.spec.js.snap b/test/manager/npm/extract/__snapshots__/index.spec.js.snap
index dfaea1647a98e970d282f5cafd003c7826586f21..d714d53e5129aa908e2f34bdd7fdd630a5bce49a 100644
--- a/test/manager/npm/extract/__snapshots__/index.spec.js.snap
+++ b/test/manager/npm/extract/__snapshots__/index.spec.js.snap
@@ -32,6 +32,14 @@ Object {
       "skipReason": "file",
       "versionScheme": "semver",
     },
+    Object {
+      "currentValue": "",
+      "depName": "baz",
+      "depType": "devDependencies",
+      "purl": "pkg:npm/baz",
+      "skipReason": "empty",
+      "versionScheme": "semver",
+    },
     Object {
       "currentValue": "latest",
       "depName": "other",
diff --git a/test/manager/npm/extract/index.spec.js b/test/manager/npm/extract/index.spec.js
index ccd7b24ca20c4502a07a4e71fa74a79a13acf12e..55a58c147e163fcc4f144e40cad545dd3935b185 100644
--- a/test/manager/npm/extract/index.spec.js
+++ b/test/manager/npm/extract/index.spec.js
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ describe('manager/npm/extract', () => {
           '@angular/cli': '1.6.0',
           foo: '*',
           bar: 'file:../foo/bar',
+          baz: '',
           other: 'latest',
         },
         engines: {