diff --git a/pandas/core/indexes/category.py b/pandas/core/indexes/category.py
index b7ae053461cb5..568b7e1c453f5 100644
--- a/pandas/core/indexes/category.py
+++ b/pandas/core/indexes/category.py
@@ -420,7 +420,7 @@ def reindex(self, target, method=None, level=None, limit=None,
 
         indexer, missing = self.get_indexer_non_unique(np.array(target))
 
-        if len(indexer):
+        if len(self.codes):
             new_target = self.take(indexer)
         else:
             new_target = target