diff --git a/src/package-managers/npm.ts b/src/package-managers/npm.ts
index f83e331b..7b003ec4 100644
--- a/src/package-managers/npm.ts
+++ b/src/package-managers/npm.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import sortBy from 'lodash/sortBy'
 import pacote from 'pacote'
 import path from 'path'
 import nodeSemver from 'semver'
+import { parseRange } from 'semver-utils'
 import spawn from 'spawn-please'
 import untildify from 'untildify'
 import filterObject from '../lib/filterObject'
@@ -30,6 +31,14 @@ import { VersionResult } from '../types/VersionResult'
 import { VersionSpec } from '../types/VersionSpec'
 import { filterPredicate, satisfiesNodeEngine } from './filters'
 
+const EXPLICIT_RANGE_OPS = new Set(['-', '||', '&&', '<', '<=', '>', '>='])
+
+/** Returns true if the spec is an explicit version range (not ~ or ^). */
+const isExplicitRange = (spec: VersionSpec) => {
+  const range = parseRange(spec)
+  return range.some(parsed => EXPLICIT_RANGE_OPS.has(parsed.operator || ''))
+}
+
 /** Normalizes the keys of an npm config for pacote. */
 export const normalizeNpmConfig = (
   npmConfig: NpmConfig,
@@ -821,6 +830,9 @@ export const semver: GetVersion = async (
     npmConfig,
     npmConfigProject,
   )) as Index<Packument>
+  // ignore explicit version ranges
+  if (isExplicitRange(currentVersion)) return { version: null }
+
   const versionsFiltered = filter(versions, filterPredicate(options)).map(o => o.version)
   // TODO: Upgrading within a prerelease does not seem to work.
   // { includePrerelease: true } does not help.
diff --git a/test/target.test.ts b/test/target.test.ts
index f5d66ddd..5153059f 100644
--- a/test/target.test.ts
+++ b/test/target.test.ts
@@ -166,26 +166,6 @@ describe('target', () => {
   })
 
   describe('semver', () => {
-    describe('exact', () => {
-      it('exact version range', async () => {
-        const data = await ncu({
-          jsonAll: true,
-          packageData: {
-            dependencies: {
-              'ncu-test-semver': '1.0.0',
-            },
-          },
-          target: 'semver',
-        })
-
-        data!.should.eql({
-          dependencies: {
-            'ncu-test-semver': '1.0.0',
-          },
-        })
-      })
-    })
-
     describe('^', () => {
       it('highest minor for post-1.0 version', async () => {
         const data = await ncu({
@@ -282,8 +262,28 @@ describe('target', () => {
       })
     })
 
-    describe('-', () => {
-      it('inclusive range', async () => {
+    describe('exact version', () => {
+      it('ignore exact version range', async () => {
+        const data = await ncu({
+          jsonAll: true,
+          packageData: {
+            dependencies: {
+              'ncu-test-semver': '1.0.0',
+            },
+          },
+          target: 'semver',
+        })
+
+        data!.should.eql({
+          dependencies: {
+            'ncu-test-semver': '1.0.0',
+          },
+        })
+      })
+    })
+
+    describe('explicit ranges', () => {
+      it('ignore inclusive range', async () => {
         const data = await ncu({
           jsonAll: true,
           packageData: {
@@ -296,7 +296,97 @@ describe('target', () => {
 
         data!.should.eql({
           dependencies: {
-            'ncu-test-semver': '1.2.0',
+            'ncu-test-semver': '1.0.0 - 1.3.0',
+          },
+        })
+      })
+
+      it('ignore >', async () => {
+        const data = await ncu({
+          jsonAll: true,
+          packageData: {
+            dependencies: {
+              'ncu-test-semver': '>1',
+            },
+          },
+          target: 'semver',
+        })
+
+        data!.should.eql({
+          dependencies: {
+            'ncu-test-semver': '>1',
+          },
+        })
+      })
+
+      it('ignore >=', async () => {
+        const data = await ncu({
+          jsonAll: true,
+          packageData: {
+            dependencies: {
+              'ncu-test-semver': '>=1',
+            },
+          },
+          target: 'semver',
+        })
+
+        data!.should.eql({
+          dependencies: {
+            'ncu-test-semver': '>=1',
+          },
+        })
+      })
+
+      it('ignore <', async () => {
+        const data = await ncu({
+          jsonAll: true,
+          packageData: {
+            dependencies: {
+              'ncu-test-semver': '<2',
+            },
+          },
+          target: 'semver',
+        })
+
+        data!.should.eql({
+          dependencies: {
+            'ncu-test-semver': '<2',
+          },
+        })
+      })
+
+      it('ignore <=', async () => {
+        const data = await ncu({
+          jsonAll: true,
+          packageData: {
+            dependencies: {
+              'ncu-test-semver': '<=2',
+            },
+          },
+          target: 'semver',
+        })
+
+        data!.should.eql({
+          dependencies: {
+            'ncu-test-semver': '<=2',
+          },
+        })
+      })
+
+      it('ignore ||', async () => {
+        const data = await ncu({
+          jsonAll: true,
+          packageData: {
+            dependencies: {
+              'ncu-test-semver': '1 || 2',
+            },
+          },
+          target: 'semver',
+        })
+
+        data!.should.eql({
+          dependencies: {
+            'ncu-test-semver': '1 || 2',
           },
         })
       })