diff --git a/lib/package-managers/npm.js b/lib/package-managers/npm.js
index 332b4dd7..8ec46e33 100644
--- a/lib/package-managers/npm.js
+++ b/lib/package-managers/npm.js
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ function viewMany(packageName, fields, currentVersion) {
  * @returns {Array}         An array of versions with the release versions filtered out
  */
 function filterOutPrereleaseVersions(versions, pre) {
-    return _.filter(versions, version => pre || !isPre(version));
+    return pre ? versions : _.filter(versions, version => !isPre(version));
 }
 
 /**
@@ -245,8 +245,9 @@ module.exports = {
             .then(versions =>
                 _.last(filterOutPrereleaseVersions(
                     doesSatisfyEnginesNode(versions, options.enginesNode),
-                    options.pre
-                ))
+                    options.pre)
+                    .sort(versionUtil.compareVersions)
+                )
             );
     },
 
diff --git a/lib/version-util.js b/lib/version-util.js
index f344452b..01894565 100644
--- a/lib/version-util.js
+++ b/lib/version-util.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ const semverutils = require('semver-utils');
 const _ = require('lodash');
 const chalk = require('chalk');
 const util = require('util');
+const semver = require('semver');
 
 const VERSION_BASE_PARTS = ['major', 'minor', 'patch'];
 const VERSION_ADDED_PARTS = ['release', 'build'];
@@ -213,7 +214,13 @@ function findGreatestByLevel(versions, current, level) {
         .value();
 }
 
+/** Comparator used to sort semver versions */
+function compareVersions(a, b) {
+    return semver.gt(a, b) ? 1 : a === b ? 0 : -1;
+}
+
 module.exports = {
+    compareVersions,
     numParts,
     stringify,
     precisionAdd,
diff --git a/test/individual/test-package-managers.js b/test/individual/test-package-managers.js
index 77d7fbaf..ea82001a 100644
--- a/test/individual/test-package-managers.js
+++ b/test/individual/test-package-managers.js
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ describe('package-managers', () => {
         );
 
         it('greatest', () =>
-            packageManagers.npm.greatest('express', null, {prefix: testDir}).then(parseInt).should.eventually.be.above(1)
+            packageManagers.npm.greatest('ncu-test-greatest-not-newest', null, {prefix: testDir}).should.eventually.equal('2.0.0-beta')
         );
 
     });