Not really. AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE depends on some of these tests, and
AM_GNU_GETTEXT depends on quite a few tests (AC_CHECK_PROG may depend on
one, too, and AC_INIT has some blurb). You may ask on the gettext
mailing list (bug-gnu-gettext aka. bug-gnu-utils) about whether the set
of dependencies can be relaxed; but I would not hope for much there.
(I know that AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE cannot spare much of its dependencies.)
Using a cache file
./configure -C
helps speed up configure reruns.
I think the newest gettext should not be checking for stdlib.h any more,
at least if it follows the lead of Autoconf to assume a C89 compiler
now.