How to tell libtool to have/work with one of [.lo|.o] file ( if possible )

Hello,

We build shared libraries and executables on
a Linux system for Pentium processor.

We use libtool along with automake and autoconf
as part of our build infrastructure.

I see that libtool compiles every C source file two times
1) once to generate ".lo" files 
2) second time to generate ".o" files

Is it possible to "tell" libtool to generate 
only one type of object file ? My belief is that
only one type of file should be sufficient. 

The main motivation is to reduce the build time 
approximately by a factor of 2 which would be a
tremendous help for us.

Regards,
Asim