diff --git a/src/config/conduit_setup_deps.cmake b/src/config/conduit_setup_deps.cmake
index 4729f7e2b..b5490fd44 100644
--- a/src/config/conduit_setup_deps.cmake
+++ b/src/config/conduit_setup_deps.cmake
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ include(CMakeFindDependencyMacro)
 if(UNIX AND NOT APPLE)
 # we depend on Threads::Threads in our exported targets
 # so we need to bootstrap that here
-    if(NOT Threads::Threads)
+    if(NOT TARGET Threads::Threads)
         find_package( Threads REQUIRED )
     endif()
 endif()