diff --git a/src/ng/compile.js b/src/ng/compile.js
index fd4318495abe..9ed7f1079a31 100644
--- a/src/ng/compile.js
+++ b/src/ng/compile.js
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@ function $CompileProvider($provide) {
 
           // use class as directive
           className = node.className;
-          if (isString(className)) {
+          if (isString(className) && className !== '') {
             while (match = CLASS_DIRECTIVE_REGEXP.exec(className)) {
               nName = directiveNormalize(match[2]);
               if (addDirective(directives, nName, 'C', maxPriority)) {