You can buy stock in a "terrific" company and still lose the entire investment too.
That is a very foolish statement not supported by facts.
Ever heard of Enron, or Lehman Brothers? American Airlines went down below 15 cents. If you think it can't happen to your great stock you haven't been around long enough.
Those stocks all had major warning signs or were just not good at all.
So no idea what you're so worried about.
Again, read up about margin of safety. If a company has significant assets that back up their market value, going bankrupt won't mean that shareholders don't get paid.
So a one in 100,000 chande of collapse of a terrible company where you still own the underlying assets vs losing your entire investment in a 50/50 chance.
Ps. I believe Lehman shareholders ended up recovering at least 40-50% of their investment.