diff --git a/salt/common/tools/sbin/soup b/salt/common/tools/sbin/soup
index df2776fee..73432d5f1 100755
--- a/salt/common/tools/sbin/soup
+++ b/salt/common/tools/sbin/soup
@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@ fi
 echo "Checking if Salt was upgraded."
 echo ""
 # Check that Salt was upgraded
-if [[ `salt --versions-report | grep Salt: | awk {'print $2'}` == "$NEWSALTVERSION" ]]; then
+if [[ $(salt --versions-report | grep Salt: | awk {'print $2'}) -eq "$NEWSALTVERSION" ]]; then
   echo "Salt upgrade failed. Check of indicators of failure in $SOUP_LOG."
   echo "Once the issue is resolved, run soup again."
   echo "Exiting."